Love Love Contest! Fight!
by X-Sparker
Summary: Sign up now and enter this contest to win sexy Riku's love! Girls and boys both welcomed! PS: Please remember to pay ALL fees! Like Riku said, love is not a game!
1. Chapter One: Contest Entry

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

A/N: This is a parody written to scorn the TV show _Farmer wants a wife_. I think that show is immature, stupid and DUMB. Yeah, you heard me. Try flaming me if you will, but I call dibs to call you cowards here first.

* * *

**Chapter one:** **Contest Entry**

_BAM!_

"Sora! Were you listening to me?!"

"Huh? Listen what?"

"Urgh!" A girl with deep maroon hair rolled her eyes, sitting her bottom into the cramped chair of the cramped classroom desk. "What is _wrong_ with you? You're spacing out again!" She whined with a frown, biting her lips when the boy failed to reply, "Are you thinking about… _him_ again?"

"No way!" The boy named Sora replied reflexively. "How would I have the time?!" He flipped through a few pages of the book in front of him, seeming almost angry, "I have four Advanced Placement classes and five club meetings, AND keyblade martial arts athletics after school. Do you seriously think I have the time?!"

"Aw, don't be mad." The girl immediately lightened her tone, "It's just… You've never really been concentrating ever since-"

"Kairi…!" Sora glared into the girl's glowing violet eyes, "Don't you dare…"

"Okay, okay. I'll stop mentioning it." Kairi gave in quickly, patting on Sora's arm for his forgiveness. "Anyway, don't you think it's time to find someone else?"

The boy sighed. Kairi really wasn't gonna stop bugging him. He closed his book, "What do you really want to say?"

"I'm saying," The faintest hint of a mischievous smirk flinted across Kairi's lips, "Isn't it time to find a new boyfriend?"

Sora slumped his shoulders. "Kairi, I really, _really_ don't want to think about stuff like this anymore." Picking up his books, he shoved them into his backpack. "I'm done dreaming for something that will never be mine."

His chair creaked with a groan as he stood up, slouching his backpack over his shoulders and starting to leave the classroom that was filled mere seconds ago. "See you tomorrow." With a casual wave, he disappeared behind the door.

Kairi sighed, pursing her lips stubbornly. Her best friend Sora had never been truly happy ever since his last breakup. Everyone else thought that the optimistic boy would eventually get over it, but only Kairi noticed the prolonged period of depression. She thinks that all the boy needed was a new boyfriend, someone like…

"Oh my GOD! No way!"

_Ow, that hurts_, thought Kairi as she winced at the voice outside which was so loud that even someone inside a classroom could well be deafened. There seemed to be a fuss around the notice board in the hallway as Kairi casually left the room. Being the nosey girl she always was, Kairi pushed through the squealing crowd to take a clearer look.

"'Sign up and enter this contest to win sexy Riku's love'…?" She cocked her head to a side at the poster before her. _Who is that…?_ Lingering her gaze higher, her eyes immediately caught the touched-up portrait of…

_Dang,_ even Kairi, the queen of dating of all-times, found her breath hitching, _this guy's __**hot**__…_

"Hurry up! We have to go get the applications!" A fan-girly voice squeaked. Kairi glanced at them for a second before whipping her head back to the poster, anxious as if she'd lose if she didn't read faster.

"'Get your application now! It can be found in the Riku fan-club room, F206. Due by the end of June. Girls and boys both welcomed! First selection starts on Friday, July 8th.'" The maroon-haired girl read quietly to herself, a grin widening as a naughty idea came into her mind.

But she failed to notice, that under the lines of information, printed in size 6 font, was the postscript notes: PS: Please remember to pay ALL fees! Like Riku said, love is not a game!

* * *

Sora gave the best growl he could at Kairi when the girl shoved him into a room. It was a rowdy classroom, with LOTS of people in it. Most of them are girls, but there seemed to be a few shy boys here and there. Sora's eyebrows were half-twitching at the sight before he turned back to his childhood friend and the cause of all his dismays.

"What is this, Kairi?" He asked not-so-friendlily, "I'm good with clubs. I don't need to join anymore."

"Chill out, Sora." She patted his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him, "We're reaching the end of the first semester and vacation starts next week anyway; you won't have any club activities to worry about."

"But still." Sora insisted, "I'm not bound to be in one of whatever weird circles you plan to drag me into."

"Sora, have some faith in your friend." Kairi tapped the brunet's shoulder again, pushing him further into the room. At the same time, three girls with solemn and authoritarian looks on their faces strolled into the classroom through another door, directly standing in front of the crowd. Sora stopped his struggling as everyone in the room quieted down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," The girl in the middle spoke superiorly, "Welcome to the first selection process of the Love Love Contest."

"'Love Love… Contest'?" Sora's eyes twitched visibly. Kairi couldn't suppress the grin tugging at the corner of her lips as she inched closer and closer to the door they came in from.

"Let us welcome our judges." The girl continued, "Firstly, Master Axel."

The crowd applauded as a tall and slim man walked in through that other door. He had a head of gravity-defying spikes that reminded Sora of fire, two acid-green eyes that seem to penetrate everything they see, and diamond-shaped black tattoos under that. His eyes were exhibiting smugness, yet his face seemed to be asking "Why the hell do I have to be here?"

"Secondly, Master Roxas." Another round of applause welcomed a much shorter person, with blond spikes and deep oceanic eyes. Roxas seemed to have mumbled something about "why for god's sake do they have to add 'Master' before our names?" To be honest, Sora actually thought this Roxas looked like himself.

"Last but not least, Lord Riku himself." The applause was now accompanied with vociferous squeals and screams. Sora winced, pressing his index fingers into his ear. _Wait… __**Lord **__Riku __**himself**__? Doesn't that mean whatever this contest is has got something to do with… him?_ Sora looked up at the man, who stood behind a mike (that Sora didn't know existed).

"You know you smoke too much when you pause in the middle of smoking one for a 'cigarette break'." The silver-haired Riku said, intending to make a joke. Sora deadpanned.

"I'm leaving." Sora declared indifferently to no one in particular, thinking that Kairi was still behind him. He turned around, and found said girl's previous spot empty. "What the heck?! She left?!" He hissed and stepped towards the door.

"You there!" One of the three girls from before yelled out; Sora froze. "If you leave, you will not be able to get your entrance fees back."

"Yeah, and how can you possibly walk away from Lord Riku like that?" Another one of them added.

"Listen-" Sora turned around slowly with his face full of irritation.

"Then what about this?" Axel took the microphone out of its stand and spoke, "We'll start the selection right away, with him. If he really wants to leave so much, we can just eliminate him quickly and get it over with."

"Wha…?" Sora frowned. He totally didn't like the sound of that; but before he could protest, those three girls had ordered other girls (that Sora also didn't know existed) to grab him and bring him over to another room. Now Sora realized that he was in the photography room, and the so-called "selection interview room" was, really, the darkroom; except, of course, it had been temporarily put out of use and lightened up just for this… contest thingy.

"Please sit down." Roxas, the only one that seemed to be sentient in the group, gestured to Sora.

_What the hell is this…? I'm here against my will! Can't you people tell?! Kairi I'm gonna kill you!!_ Sora's mind argued loudly over himself as he timidly sat down on the single chair across from what could be easily assumed as the "judges' panel".

"So, your name is Sora." Axel flipped through pages on a clipboard in his hand. God forbid, they even had his information. Sora really wondered if the redhead was looking at a "profile" of him. "Why'd you want to leave just now?"

"I'm just going to be honest." Sora's face was still deadpanned and blank. "A friend set me up. This is her idea of a prank on me. I didn't apply for this… Love Love Contest or whatever. I don't even know what it is, okay? I'm here against my will, and I want to leave." Watching the three fellow schoolmates' faces, he added, "And you, Riku or whatever. You have a really bad sense of humor."

The silver-haired teen seemed to be more astonished than hurt. Roxas blinked with cocked eyebrows, secretly impressed with the honesty and bluntness Sora had; Axel whistled, nodding his head enigmatically as if something just made sense to him.

"Can I go now?" The brunet asked, more than eager to leave the presence of these bizarre people and to take revenge on the cause of his dismay.

"Um, yeah." Roxas talked, for Riku still seemed to be in shock and Axel was still looking through Sora's information. "Come back half an hour later for the selection results… if you care."

_I don't_. Sora thought sourly as he bolted out from the chair and started digging for his cell phone.

* * *

Everybody agreed that Sora was one of the nicest kids in town. He was bubbly, cheerful, kind and above all, forgiving. So even Kairi, who had been his friend for more than ten years, was shocked when he came up to her face and held her neck tightly with one hand, a murderous face painted on him. Now, little Sora didn't intend to make a scene (at school at least), but he needed an explanation above all else.

"What the hell was that for?!" He released his grip abruptly when she started to flail her arms, plopping down onto the pavement where she originally sat.

"For your own good." Kairi sat down beside him. "Don't mean to be so blunt but… you need to get laid, Sora."

The boy's natural pure, childish and innocent trait resurfaced as he blushed at her statement.

"I mean, not literally. That's… ew." She rolled her eyes, "But you've just been so down since… since… gah. Anyway, I think it's time you start a new relationship. You know the old saying: the best way to heal a wound left by an old relationship is to start a new relationship."

"You do know that that saying is totally archaic and paradoxical, right?" Sora stared at her like she was supposed to know that. "The last thing I need right now is another person to break my heart."

"How do you know he'll break your heart?" Kairi swerved her index finger like she was some old wise sorcerer. "Riku _let_ his fan club host this thing. He's the one looking for someone special for him to care about. What would be the point anyway to go through all this trouble just to break this special someone's heart in the end?"

"You're not making sense." Sora rolled his eyes. "Neither does this contest thing. What is it anyway?"

"Just as its name says: a love contest." She smiled. "He'll first select eleven people out from a bunch, and then the contestants will enter a camping phase in which Riku and they will go to a human paradise. There they'll hang out, get to know each other; but mainly the drama comes in between the contestants, how they fight with each other to win Riku's heart. Whoever succeeds will get to date him without objection from his fan club or fans."

"What? That's… wrong. That's so wrong!" Sora stood up, unknown fury burning in his eyes, "How can he do that?! That's just… degrading love! I mean, watching other people fight each other for him and he's just gonna sit back and laugh?! That's wrong!! You can't find love by gathering people and eliminating them to your heart's content! True love is found by fate!"

"Sora, what century do you think you're in?" Kairi chuckled amusedly. "No one believes in these things anymore. Look around you, there are millions of matchmaking services everywhere. You want a date? Just go there and give them your information, they'll find the right person for you. You can get coupled up with people you never think you'd meet in your life."

"But that's not right. I mean, love shouldn't be something that's made out of intentional human interference." Sora frowned, biting his bottom lip. "It shouldn't be something artificial…"

"Maybe not. Maybe you're right. Matchmaking may be wrong." Kairi shrugged, "But that isn't going to stop the fact that people will continue to do it. And the fact that you're still in the contest."

"No I'm not." The brunet denied hastily, "I told them I wanted to leave, and they let me."

"You did?!" Kairi's previously crossed arms dropped, and she had frustration clearly imprinted all over her. "God, you're such a stubborn ass, Sora!" She gritted before grabbing the boy's wrist and started running.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?!" The brunet tried to pry off his arm while Kairi's running was obstructed by a crowd. To Sora's dismay, Kairi had brought him back to room F206, the photography room. Before Sora could fight off the girl's grip or anything else happened, the door to the room (which was previously locked) suddenly opened. Those three girls from before stepped out, still looking all high and mighty.

"Excuse us for the long wait." The leader girl announced. "Please come inside to hear the announcement of the first round selection results."

Everybody started moving. Kairi gripped Sora' wrist yet tighter, and dragged him into the room. Lights out of nowhere focused on the front of the classroom, where those three girls and the three judges stood. The leader girl (now Sora began to wonder if she was the fan club's president) stood beside a white board stand; all was quiet.

"Well then, let's begin the nominations of the contestants for the Love Love Contest." The girl stated, and one of her sidekicks came up with an envelope. She opened it carefully.

"Number one, Lady Naminé." All eyes fell upon a girl in the frontline of the crowd. She had long, straight and smooth blond hair raining down onto her shoulder, and was wearing a petite white skirt. Although Sora stood behind everyone and couldn't see their faces, he was sure that whoever this Naminé was must be beautiful. She was giggling clandestinely, although she tried to hide it. The people began murmuring, mostly agreeing with the decision. "Please quiet down. Thank you. Then, number two, Mister Tidus. Number three…

"…Number ten, Lady Selphie." A girl squealed loudly, punching a fist into the air. Kairi gulped; Sora's name has not been called so far. The brunet was quite sure it would not be.

"Number eleven, Mister Sora."

"Ehhhh?!" The crowd emitted skeptical sounds while Kairi screamed and danced around her friend. Sora just stood there, eyes as wide as everyone else, disbelieving as the other sidekick girl pasted the card with his name on onto the whiteboard neatly.

"I'm… in?" Sora mumbled disbelievingly. "No way."

* * *

Review, and have a nice day.


	2. Chapter Two: The fight begins

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights. I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST SELPHIE, I barely know her character… I just didn't want to put an OC name.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter two:** **The fight begins**

_Previously…_

"_Number eleven, Mister Sora."_

"_I'm… in?" Sora mumbled disbelievingly. "No way."_

* * *

"Well then." The fan club president said loudly over the voices of the whispering crowd. "Thank you everyone for your entries. Now may I ask the contestants to stay here for a briefing?"

People muttered and some gave disgruntled groans as they left the room. Only those eleven, Kairi and the important others remained.

"Please leave." One of the girls from the fan club approached Kairi and grabbed her hands.

"Wait! She's my friend." Sora tried to break apart the grasp. The Club President frowned and started walking towards the struggling trio.

"Leave them." A voice suddenly called out from the front; Riku. "She's probably the one who got him into this anyway. Let's just start the briefing."

"Yes, Lord Riku." The guarding girl returned to their standing position behind the three "judges". The Club President went over to turn off the lights as her sidekicks turned on a screen projector.

"Welcome to the Love Love Contest." She announced into the mike. "Congratulations to the eleven of you who have made it out of more than fifty people to be in this contest. As you might already know, first semester of our school ends this week, and vacation will start next week.

"The first phase of the Love Love Contest is the Beach Paradise. Please take a look at the screen here." She gestured over to the shifting scene on the white projector screen. A video showcasing Destiny Island was playing, moving with grandiose motion pictures.

Sora snorted at the fan club's serious attempt at such a stupid thing. "I'm not going." He whispered to Kairi, who gave him a pinch at the elbow.

"The first phase of the Love Love Contest, Beach Paradise, will be held at Destiny Islands." The speakers of the projector said. "It begins on Monday, July 11th and lasts for two weeks; in other words, the entire semester vacation. There are four eliminations during these two weeks, two eliminations per week.

"There are numerous events on Destiny Islands which provide chances for you to socialize with Lord Riku, such as the Summer Welcoming Carnival, the Star Festival, Midnight Dance and many more. For more detailed information, visit Riku's Official Fan Club Website. The flight to Destiny Islands is on Saturday, July 9th at 8pm in Radiant Garden Airport, Terminal C, Gate 18. The flight number is RG813. We hope to see your participation, and please be on time."

"Dude, are they serious about this?" Sora's eyes widened with his incredulous frown.

"I hope that clarified everyone's role." The Club President said, her eyes then scanned towards Sora. "If anyone wants to forfeit, we will not stop them."

Sora's face lightened slightly.

"But please keep in mind that you must pay for the airline ticket that we have already prepared."

"What?!" The brunet boy blurted out before he could stop himself. Everyone looked at him, especially Riku with his eyebrows cocked. "Oh, I mean… can't you just find someone to replace me and use my ticket instead?"

"We will not." The Club President declared. "We have already eliminated all the other entries, and if a contestant opts to forfeit now, we will have to cancel the ticket and the total number of contestants will decrease, increasing the chances for the remaining contestants." She glanced over to the rest of the contestants, "Therefore we will not stop you, since I'm sure the rest of the contestants will be happy about it. But you will owe us 3000 munnies."

3000 munnies was enough to satisfy Sora's gluttony for sea-salt ice cream for six whole months. This truth crushed Sora harshly. Kairi looked at her friend's face, and laughed quietly.

"Looks like you just gotta go, Sora." She slapped his back lightly. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. Riku's pretty hot, in any case."

"That's not the point." Sora whined as the room was relit and everyone started exiting the room.

"Just give it a try." Kairi cooed, "It can't be that bad. Plus, there's one reason you should fight for first place."

"What's that?"

"You see… Riku and _him_ made a bet." Kairi whispered with a lower voice. "If Riku couldn't get a real girlfriend or boyfriend by the end of the year, Riku would have to date _him_. I bet that guy is just aiming for a chance to break another person's heart… like he broke yours…" The maroon-haired girl felt a little bad having to dig up something that old and scarring to encourage her friend, but it had to be done. "I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone to experience the same pain you've been through, would you? And if you become Riku's boyfriend, you can laugh in his face and show _him_ he's wrong!"

_Show him he's wrong?_ Frankly, the idea didn't sound half bad to Sora. Sure, Sora wasn't the kind to take bitter revenge on an ex, but proving that man was wrong was definitely a point he'd want to make. Moreover, Sora somehow felt like he had the duty to prevent anyone from being hurt by that man anymore.

"I'll do it." Sora said with determination.

-- Saturday --

"Be a good boy, Sora." Kairi's hands were on her hips as if she was his mother. "Don't disappoint me!"

"Shut up." Sora rolled his eyes at her and picked up his bag. The only reason he would go along with Kairi's little scheme was because he wanted to go to Destiny Islands. "I'm going in."

"Have fun!" The maroon-haired girl waved noisily, attracting stares and glances.

As it turned out, Sora was placed to sit next to contestant number ten, Selphie, _in economic class_. The brunet scowled lowly when Selphie wasn't looking, _how come we have to cram in this small space when Riku gets to sit in business class?!_

"This is going to be so exciting!" The girl's voice next to him pulled Sora out of his grumpy fit. He looked at her with a dumbfounded expression for a moment, and then weakly nodded his head. "What's your name? Oh wait! You're the one who tried to leave before!"

"Y-Yeah…" Sora scratched his head embarrassedly.

"It was Sora, if I remembered correctly?" She offered a hand. Sora nodded and shook it. "I'm Selphie. If you don't mind, can I call you Sora-chan?" The brunet wasn't so certain, but nodded anyways. She seemed to be offering kind companionship. "So how long have you liked Riku?"

"O-Oh, you've got me wrong." Sora shook his head. "I don't like Riku. In fact, I don't know him at all! You see, I have an ex who made a bet with Riku, and… well this is going to sound wrong, but I'm trying to prove a point to my ex, using Riku…"

"Oh…"Selphie blinked, "Oh boy."

"Yeah… I know it's kind of wrong, but…" Sora shrugged. "But I don't want Riku to lose the bet either, because that would put him into a position similar to mine." He chuckled a little, feeling stupid. "How should I say it? It's kind of like a rape victim helping the police because she wouldn't want a fellow girl to experience the same thing."

"I see." Selphie nodded her head. "Well, that's okay. You're a good person."

Sora smiled lightly, feeling relieved. It seemed that this contest wasn't as bad as he'd originally thought. At least he could make some friends even if he didn't win. Now that didn't sound so bad, did it?

* * *

Destiny Islands was beautiful. The ocean was cyan clear, so clear that you could see this fish and corals in it. The sky was cloudless, and the sand was smooth and white. Everything seemed to go at a much slower pace in this world. It was a place for summer, indeed. The group disembarked from the gummi ship, and was welcomed by Roxas and Axel.

"Alright, so apparently this is where you'll spend your vacation at." Axel said nonchalantly; the man always had an air of cockiness around him. "The first big event you might want to grab a chance to hang out with Riku is the Star Festival."

"Yes, and it begins at six this evening." Roxas added, "Make sure you use your time wisely."

Some people wondered where Riku was, but the two judges wouldn't disclose the information. They said it was for them to find out, to determine where on this island Riku would like to be at the most. Everyone immediately spread out to find the wanted silver-haired teen. Sora, on the other hand, went for the closest place that sold food. He was really hungry.

He went into a coffee shop – or more like a beverage shop – and ordered a cold drink. His beverage was an azure-colored soda, so blue that it reminded him of the ocean just a few yards away from the shop. With his boyish jubilance, he sat into one of the bamboo chairs and started sucking the life out of the cup. The weather sure was hot, for he took off the small short-sleeve outer jacket he wore.

"So you came." A voice suddenly interrupted his tranquility. "I thought you wouldn't, wanting to leave and all that."

Sora looked up and found the hunted boy Riku smiling down at him. Looking at Riku from this angle did reveal that he had some sort of handsomeness to him. The brunet wasn't easy to fall, though, not after what he'd been through.

"It's only because if I don't go I'll have to pay 3000 munnies." Sora grumbled dissatisfiedly, looking out to the sea. Riku raised his eyebrows, considered Sora's statement, then sat down across from the brunet.

"You really hate to be here that much?" Riku asked, placing his drink onto the small round table in between them.

Sora glanced at Riku before he opened his mouth, which stopped him from saying what he planned to say. He sighed. "Well, not really that much. Just not exactly happy about it." He shrugged, looking into Riku's eyes.

Riku made a face of understanding, and for once Sora felt like he could bear the presence of the other teen for a little longer.

"About that time… why didn't you eliminate me?" Sora was rocking back and forth in the chair childishly, eyes diverting to the bottom of his drink.

"You said what no one would ever dare say to me." A small smile tugged at Riku's lips.

"_And you, Riku or whatever. You have a really bad sense of humor."_

"No one in that room would've said anything." Riku chuckled awkwardly. "You were right. That so-called joke I made was not funny at all. But that's the way it had always been. Everybody swooned over me; they wanted to please me, and so they never said anything to me honestly. Even when I did something wrong, or when they have an opinion different from mine, they would never tell me. But you did."

Sora looked away, biting his bottom lip. "I see."

"Hm." Riku nodded. "Something wrong?"

"Nah. It's just…" Sora took in a deep breath, "I was just thinking that so you also have your own problems."

"Well… yeah." Riku shrugged. "I'm human, too."

The brunet nodded halfheartedly, looking at the ocean, seemingly in deep thoughts. To Riku, this boy was an enigma. Nothing that he did made any sense to him… yet. And that stimulated Riku's curiosity. He wanted to find out what the boy was thinking, the reasons behind his actions.

* * *

"Sora, Sora, Sora!" Sora was halfway down the corridor of the hotel when Selphie's voice called out at him. The sky was darkening, the sun almost completely gone. It was almost time for the Festival, which was what Sora was going back to his room to get prepared for, yet Selphie was in some very plain clothes, and a blanket was wrapped around herself.

"Selphie? What's wrong?" Sora asked curiously.

"I heard… from Roxas and Axel…" The girl said in between coughs, "That they postponed the Festival on just the last minute. The Islanders said that there will be meteor shower tonight, which is really, really rare on this island, so they canceled the Festival so that the lights wouldn't drown out the stars. And well… I managed to ask Riku to go meteor-viewing with me. But now… I've gotten a cold…"

"Oh no…" Sora sympathized. "Is there anything I can do? Maybe I can get you some medicine?"

"No, I have some." She coughed again. "But you see… it's really rude to stand Riku up like that. So I'm wondering if you can go over to the South Beach and just tell him that I'm really sorry that I couldn't go? And can you tell him that I'll ask him again another day?"

"Of course." The brunet patted his friend's shoulder and ran out immediately.

* * *

The South Beach was cold and windy. The sand here was coarser than the North Beach, but the sky was the same sky, black and full of sparkling stars. Sora arrived in just his sandals, which allowed much sand to scratch against his feet. Frankly, the beach was quite empty. Sora figured it must be because the meteor shower wouldn't have started so early yet. He grinned to himself, and sat down onto the sharp sand gently, looking up at the sky.

* * *

There was only one village on this island, and it was loud tonight. Makeshift food stalls and shops stood alongside the streets, illuminated by the hanging bulbs. Couples could be seen everywhere, and many girls were waiting at the entrance for their date to show up.

"Ah! Lord Riku." Selphie happily approached said teen. "You came."

"Sorry for the wait." Riku grinned calmly. Most of the other girls waiting were almost fainting over the smile, if not gritting their teeth at Selphie who comfortably curled an arm around Riku's.

"Not at all." She smiled wholeheartedly. "Let's go."

* * *

It had been two hours since Sora started waiting, yet no one had shown up. He began to doubt, to hesitate, but he shook his head to himself. _Selphie isn't that kind of a person…_ And then he proceeded to scold himself for ever thinking such a thought. Wrapped up in his arms, he rocked back and forth on the sand against the cold wind. Waiting for Riku, waiting for people, waiting for the meteor shower to come. The trees sighed to the kisses of the wind, the black ocean rolling as it washed shells and the like ashore.

"It sure is taking him a long time…" Sora moaned into his knees, his feet tapping to the beat of his favorite musical song. If this was how late Riku was going to be, Sora certainly wouldn't want to be his boyfriend.

* * *

"Hey, Lord Riku." Selphie placed her hand directly over Riku's. The couple was sitting at a table in one of the many quiet restaurants on the North Beach that only opened during the night. "They say there're gonna be fireworks at nine. Shall we go out to the beach and watch?"

"Oh. Sure." Riku shrugged, earning a giggle from the brunette.

* * *

Sora had fallen asleep until he was woken up by sounds of explosions. He jumped, shooting up to his feet. The sound seemed to have come from behind him, so he turned around, and saw balls of colored lights shining in the sky. The scene was astonishing, utterly beautiful.

"Fireworks!" He grinned like a child, eyes wide enough to reflect the lights in the sky, before something hit him. "Fireworks…?"

Halfway down the road to the village, Sora could see people walking along the streets, the overall mood lively. He ran faster, though at each step he trembled more and more, until he stopped at a wide street.

"W-Why…?" He gulped. In front of him, at the end of the street, was a staircase that led up to the upper-ground of the same street, and at the base of the staircase was a Festival Entrance banner.

"_They postponed the Festival on just the last minute. The Islanders said that there will be meteor shower tonight, which is really, really rare on this island, so they canceled the Festival so that the lights wouldn't drown out the stars."_

* * *

"Today was really fun." Selphie said with an indulged smile on her face. They stood at the entrance of the Festival, ready to part for the night.

"The pleasure was all mine." Riku smiled back politely like a gentleman.

"Axel! You're drunk!" Roxas' loud voice was the only precaution Riku had before the redhead leaned into Roxas who stumbled right into Naminé when she walked past them in between the two couples, pushing her into Riku's way. The domino effect stopped at Riku who was strong enough to hold Naminé up to avoid bumping into Selphie to his left.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Naminé looked up and instantly blushed, muttering a quiet "I'm fine" before rushing off. Selphie narrowed her eyes, and placed a hand on Riku's arm.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Lord Riku." She smiled and bowed gracefully before walking off towards the hotel. Riku was going to return to a special private mansion reserved for him alone, but realized he stepped onto something. He bent over to pick it up, and realized it was some sort of a cell phone accessory string. _Naminé must have dropped it…_

* * *

Despite the large portion of the population native Destiny Islanders took up, there were still a considerable amount of visitors and tourists. The lobby of the hotel was not as noisy as the village, but it wasn't as silent as the silver-haired teen expected, either.

He went up to a receptionist and asked, "Hi, I'm responsible for a group of students from Radiant Garden High School. My name's Riku, you can check it on the group's flight information."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Riku." The lady nodded, confirming his identity. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, I want to know which room a girl named Naminé is staying in." He asked, the cell phone string clutched in his palm.

"Sure." The lady typed in something on the keyboard. "She's currently in room 304."

Riku thanked her and went to press for a lift. He made a left turn upon approaching the number plates and soon found Naminé's room. Inhaling, he knocked firmly on her door. Shuffling sounds of fluffy slippers could be heard as the girl came to open the door.

"Riku… Good evening." She blinked, surprised by the sudden visit.

"Hi." He greeted with a smile. "I think you dropped this."

"O-Oh!" She exclaimed and blushed a little as she took her cell phone accessory from his hand. "You found it! Thank you so much!"

"No problem." Riku nodded reassuringly.

"How should I thank you…?" The girl nibbled on her bottom lip, and blushed harder, "L-Lord Riku… Will you… go to the Midnight Dance with me on Thursday night?"

The boy blinked, and upon seeing the girl hanging her head so low as if she was begging, he immediately agreed. "Oh, okay. Yeah, sure."

"Really?" She lifted her head up with hopeful eyes, "Thank you!"

"I'll see you then." Riku smiled gently one last time and turned to leave as she closed her door. He was quite happy about the invitation, then his train of thought was interrupted by another conversation down the hall.

"Selphie!" It was a boy's voice. Presumably Sora's. Riku's curiosity drew him closer to the source of the sound, and he stood behind the corner before the corridor turned into the one Sora and Selphie must be standing in.

* * *

Selphie completely walked past Sora without noticing him. He dashed out, calling after her.

"Selphie!"

The girl turned around, and gasped a little before her face turned into a half-embarrassed, half-disdainful look. "Oh. It's you."

"Wasn't the Festival… postponed?" Sora asked the only and obvious question. "Why…?"

"Oh please." The brunette rolled her eyes. "This is a _contest_, Sora. We're _enemies_. I just did what I was supposed to do. I went out with Riku."

"Then… all that you told me…" The boy swallowed. "About the postponement, the meteor shower, the cold… Those were all-"

"Lies, of course." Selphie looked away, avoiding the boy's eyes. "There's no way I can catch a cold in such a hot place like this. What are you, an idiot? We're here to compete for Riku's love. Of course I have to fight away my fellow competitors. What are you trying to do anyway? Make me admit what I did? I'll admit it. I lied to you, I betrayed you, I treated you as an idiot, Sora. Happy? You're gonna lose anyway. The Festival is over. Riku's back in his mansion, and you didn't do anything to make yourself known to him at all. You're losing for sure." With that, she swung away from the stupefied boy and went back to her room, slamming the door shut.

Upon hearing a thud, Riku peeked around the corner. Sora was on his knees, shoulders were slumped and looked completely like a depressed blob. Something about Sora silently weeping like that disturbed Riku greatly.

* * *

Sora was woken up next morning by a gentle voice. He couldn't fall asleep until very late last night. He groggily opened his eyes, rubbing them a bit to get focused. Then a boy's face, blond hair with tanned skin, appeared before him.

"Sora, the elimination is about to start." Tidus, being the only other boy in the contest, was reasonably arranged to be Sora's roommate. "We have to wake up now."

"O-Oh." The brunet mumbled quietly. Somehow now he couldn't place his heart fully into trusting his roommate. The blond boy nodded silently and walked off. Sora stood up, heaved a sigh, and went to get ready to go down to the judge panel.

* * *

"Today is the first day of elimination." Roxas announced. Everyone involved in the contest was seated around a bamboo table lent to them by the owner of the beverage shop. "The judges, us three, have discussed with input from Riku himself over the subject of who was to stay, and who was to go. And now, we'd have Axel announce these results."

"The following numbers I read are the ones that will remain in this contest and continue to compete for Riku's love." Axel brought up a list in his hands. Sora gulped upon seeing it, knowing with dread that he would not be on the list. "And I read according to the level of attraction Riku feels towards them.

"Number one. Number five. Number six. Number two. Number nine. Number four, Number eight, Number three, Number seven." The redhead paused. "Please step over here." His finger whisked to a side, where the floor was clear of any furniture for them to stand.

Sora widened his eyes. The only numbers left unread were… ten and eleven! He glanced over at Selphie, who was trying to hide the anxiety in her face. No one on the area except the three judges knew exactly why things were this peculiar. Selphie was the one who spent the most time with Riku during this first round, even getting a firm grip on the chance to go to the Star Festival with him! How could she end up being at the bottom?

"Number ten and eleven, please stand up." Axel continued. "I have only one number left to say, and this number is going to represent the one that can remain in this contest. The other one, the one not called, will be sent back to Radiant Garden."

Both of the contestants gulped. Selphie was near tears, and Sora was mulling over the thought of not being able to get his revenge and being slaughtered by Kairi.

"A word from Riku." The redhead looked at the paper in his hand. "'We have two very polar contestants standing here, as the final two from which one will be eliminated. Here we have a girl, pretty, cute, with a touch of the beauty of Nature on her, trying all her might to reach me, to make me happy, to make herself stand out from the others. She did everything and more than the others did. She even went to the Star Festival with me. On the other end of the scale, we have a boy, also cute, another kind of beauty, but he didn't try anything. I had but one or two words with him. I didn't see him after that, nor did he appear to have participated in the Star Festival.

"'Most of you must wonder, isn't the result obvious? Why would she even be one of the bottom two? And my answer is, it is because of which kind of beauty I am looking for.'" Axel paused. "That concludes Riku's comment. And now, the remaining contestant is…" The atmosphere could create illusionary drum-rolls on its own. "Number eleven."

"Ehhhh?!" Every contestant all said with disbelief simultaneously.

"I'm… staying?" Saying that Sora's eyes were larger than two saucers would be an understatement.

"NOOOOO!!!" Selphie screamed. She was disoriented for a second, and then tried to jump at Riku. But she was dragged away by two girls who seemed to be from the fan club (_When the hell did they get over here?!_ Sora wondered bewilderedly).

"Can everybody see now?" Riku stepped up with a genuine smile. "This is what she really looked like." Everybody winced at Selphie's disappearing deranged face. "Do you understand now? Love is not a game. You cannot manipulate people into loving you. True love will only exist when both sides of the party are willing to give themselves up for the other."

Sora cocked his eyebrows, mumbling under his breath, "Who are you to say that…?"

* * *

A/N: So there you have your very dramatic chapter 2! (lol) The Star Festival I had in mind resembles the Tanabata Matsuri of Japan. So yes, all the girls wore Yukata kimonos. Lovely imageries, lol.


	3. Chapter Three: Prom Queen

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter three: Prom Queen**

_Previously…_

"_Do you understand now? Love is not a game. You cannot manipulate people into loving you. True love will only exist when both sides of the party are willing to give themselves up for the other."_

_Sora cocked his eyebrows, mumbling under his breath, "Who are you to say that…?"_

----

The day on Destiny Islands couldn't get any hotter; the sun was blazing in the sky, the seagulls hawking over the ocean, fleeting their ways to shade and rest. Sora sat under an umbrella, his skin sheen with sweat just sitting in the hot air of the beach. The world looked so undisturbed to him, even though on the inside he was chewing himself out.

Someone plopped down next to him and handed him a bar of sea-salt ice cream. "Here."

"Oh, Tidus." Sora offered a smile, taking the treat uncertainly.

"Don't worry, I won't poison you." Tidus chuckled, biting off his own ice cream. Sora sniggered, and nodded.

"How nice…" Tidus pursed his lips enviously as he watched Riku and a few others surfing on the waves of the sea. "I want to surf too…"

"Why don't you go then?" Sora asked, licking at his ice cream bar.

"I don't know how to surf." The boy shrugged. "Besides, there are rules to this contest."

"Rules?"

"Hm-mm." Tidus nodded, "See, why do you think no one interrupted Selphie's date with Riku last time at the Star Festival?"

"…Ah." Sora's jaw slackened. "You're right… There were other contestants there, but they didn't go drag Riku away from Selphie… Why?"

"It's because there are rules to this contest." Tidus held up a finger. "This isn't just based entirely on who Riku likes. There are a few… 'scoring methods'. Firstly, once a contestant has asked Riku out on a date, no one else can stop or interrupt them for any reason other than for life-threatening emergencies, except in the case of a contestant threatening to kill himself. If that happens, the fan club will take care of it, and Riku will remain undisturbed in his date.

"Secondly, there are three ways you can compete in this contest to make sure you stay through the eliminations: one, you can talk to him; two, you can ask him out on a date on your own; and three, you can ask him out on a date to one of the island's events.

"Talking to him is the most inefficient way to do this. One, many other people do it too all the time, so it doesn't really give you enough credit to stay. Two, you can easily get interrupted by a fellow contestant, and that would only irritate Riku, actually. So you're left with dates. Asking him out on a date should be good, just like those girls that are surfing with him right now. But make sure you know what you're doing with your date, 'cause it would really suck if you go do something that you don't like, or don't know how to, or will mess up in front of Riku. Like that girl over there, she obviously doesn't know how to surf, and you can see that Riku's having more fun with those who do than with her." Tidus pointed at a girl who was trying to stand up on a surfboard but kept falling down flat on her chest or into the water.

"I see…" Sora mumbled. "Eh? But wait. You said a date cannot be interrupted, then how come all those girls are surfing with him?"

"That's because they agreed on a group date." Tidus explained. "Those girls kind of 'teamed up' and agreed to 'share' Riku between them for the day. So no one else except those girls can surf with Riku right now, which is why I'm here…"

"Oh so that's what it is…"

"Well, yeah." The blond shrugged. "And then there's the date to the special events. These dates score the highest place, supposedly. I don't know what happened to Selphie, but she did the right thing last time by asking Riku to go to the Star Festival with him. She should've been secured for the first round of elimination… I wonder what really happened…" Tidus tilted his head confusedly. "Maybe she really messed up big time during the date."

"I see..." Sora's ice cream was finished, and he sucked on the wooden stick. "Thanks, Tidus. I learned a lot."

"No problem." The blond grinned back at him, hugging his knees.

"I've got a question though…" The brunet frowned a little. "What would happen if you don't follow these… rules?"

"Well firstly, you'd really lose points in front of Riku." Tidus rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Secondly, if you really cross over the line, the fan club will take action. Do you remember last time when Selphie got eliminated, she got dragged away? I have no idea where the fan club officers come from, but just know that they are watching."

"Eh…" Sora's lips twitched. "That's kinda… scary."

"Well…" Tidus shrugged. "All this is done for Riku…"

"Tidus, do you really… love Riku?" Somehow Sora had trouble asking that question.

"Well... How should I say it?" The boy chuckled a little shyly. "I wouldn't say it's love. It's just… I've been paying some extra attention to him since long ago."

"Hm…" Sora hummed. "When's the next big event?"

"Thursday night, 8pm. It's the Midnight Dance."

"Oh… How do you know all this stuff?" Sora asked in awe.

"It was on a card on the stand next to the door of our room." Tidus looked at the brunet as if Sora was supposed to know. "You didn't notice?"

Sora blushed, scratched his head sheepishly, and sighed. _I'm definitely going to lose if I keep this up…_

* * *

"BOTTOM TWO?!!!!" Kairi shouted into the phone, making Sora wince and pull his cell away from his ear. "How can you get that low?! Honestly, Sora, you're not thinking of quitting now, are you?"

"No, but…" The brunet whined as he spun in his chair inside his and Tidus' room. "I don't know what to do! That girl tricked me! I honestly thought she was telling the truth, but it turned out that she was lying to me!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Sora could so tell that Kairi was rolling her eyes. "So what are you going to do now? How did you even manage to get through the first elimination?"

"Well…" Sora started like an intellectual, then stopped when he couldn't come up with a reason. "I don't know."

Kairi almost crashed her face into her desk. "God… You're hopeless, Sora."

"Sorry…" If only Kairi could see Sora's pout.

"Anyway, tell me what the next event is."

"It's the Midnight Dance." Sora sat up, "But Riku's already taken that night. Apparently a girl named Naminé – I think she was Number one – already asked Riku out."

"Another lose, huh?" Kairi heaved a sigh.

"It's not really a loss yet…" Sora pouted, arguing a dead argument. "Plus, even if I asked Riku out, I don't know how to dance. I can't impress him. He must think that I'm a weirdo after all these things happened."

"Impress, huh?" Kairi echoed dumbly before an idea came to her. "Hold on. Sora, you said there was a card that told you about the dance?"

"Yeah… That's right." Sora murmured into the phone, flicking the card in between his fingers. "What?"

"On that card… does it say that you cannot change partners in the middle of the dance?"

"No… It doesn't say." Sora read the card over repeatedly and could not find such a statement. "So?"

"I have an idea." The infamous mischievous grin was plastered on Kairi's face. "Wait until next morning and you'll see."

The next thing that greeted Sora was the beeping sound of a hung up call. The brunet was getting a really bad feeling about Kairi's tone, but what else could he do in an unyielding situation like this?

* * *

Tidus came back into the room next morning after breakfast with a box in his hands. It looked sort of heavy, as Tidus trudged over to the desk. Sora widened his eyes and stood up, asking his roommate what it was.

"It's a package for you." The blond placed the box onto the desk with a thud. "The lobbyist gave me it."

"For me…?" Sora raised an eyebrow, staring at the sticker. It was from Kairi. Sora winced immediately, wondering what the girl could be up to this time. Tentatively, he moved his hands to tear out the tape that concealed the box. The flips were opened and Sora could see an assembly of smaller boxes, each from different brand and of different sizes. He picked out the uppermost box, a cream-colored broad one, and opened the lid.

Both of their mouths were left agape.

Lying in the box, over a fragile piece of paper vellum, was a dress. A long, ankle-length, crystal sapphire blue, ruffled, strapless prom… dress. With a trembling hand, Sora picked up the card place on top of the dress.

"'My Dear little hopeless dumbass friend, here is all you will need to impress Riku with one look. All you have to do is to make sure you find the right time to coax Riku into changing partners with you. That shouldn't be too hard to do, right? It _is_ a _dance_, after all. Your brilliant gorgeous clever friend, Kairi.'" Sora read with increasing difficulty.

"Well, that certainly would catch some attention." Tidus commented as he rummaged through the boxes. "Your friend surely is thoughtful… and has some _seriously good_ taste." He said as he took a look under the lids of all the boxes. "A dress, a wig, make-up, accessories, a pair of gloves and… oooh, limited edition of Highwind High Heels Model 13 made directly in RG?" The boy looked at the pair of shoes with sparkling eyes. "Do you know how much these things cost?"

"I don't." Sora's mouth was still open and he barely moved. "I wouldn't."

"Well, they cost a fortune." Tidus carefully slid the lids back on. "It's already 6. Should we start?"

"Start what?" Sora turned to the boy, _still_ dumbfounded.

"Start preparing!" Tidus exclaimed, and took the dress out from its box. "Hurry, we haven't got much time!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Sora blinked and held Tidus' hand. "You can't be serious. I'm not dressing as a girl to the dance."

"Yes, you are." Tidus patted the other boy's hand. "Your friend went through all this trouble to get you these things. It would be a waste if you don't use them!"

"B-But I don't even know how to use them!" Sora whined.

"That, my friend, is not a problem." The blond smiled. "You are lucky."

Half an hour later, Sora found himself sitting in the chair, in the dress, necklace, earrings and gloves put on, with Tidus combing his hair behind him. He looked at himself, and still couldn't believe he actually did it. The dress felt comfortable, but was direly troublesome when he had to sit. His head hurt a little when Tidus pulled the hair back to tie it all up, but he made no sound, scared that it would disturb the working blond.

"Tidus, how do you know all this stuff?" Sora found himself asking the same question twice. "I mean, even how to wear a dress?"

"Having three sisters helps sometimes." He laughed, putting on the wig over Sora's head. Then all of a sudden Sora was not looking at Sora anymore. He gasped, his gloved fingers reaching his lips.

"Cute, right?" Tidus grinned at Sora's reaction. Indeed, Sora was a chocolate-haired, mysterious yet beautiful _girl_.

"I… look like a girl…" The brunet – or rather, _brunette_ – blinked twice, still unbelieving.

"That's not all." Tidus continued to mingle with something around the edges of the wig where it met the scalp. It took him another good half an hour to fully secure the wig onto Sora's head. And then he moved onto make-up, where he took fifteen minutes powdering Sora's face, adding very, very light blush, lining and shadowing his eyes, and put on a thick coat of gleaming strawberry cream colored lip gloss.

Then came the part when Sora had to put on his final instrument: the high heels. For the first time in his life, Sora could understand the pain women felt while standing onto nothing but two square inches of surface area. Tidus even coached his walking, which took quite a while before he could finally walk without stumbling or needing Tidus to catch him.

"Oh, one last thing!" Tidus snapped his fingers. "Hang on for a second, I'll be right back." He said before snooping into the bathroom. Five minutes later he emerged, in Tux and haired gelled and all.

"A lady needs an escort." He shrugged with a smile. Sora let his jaw drop again.

"You took 5 minutes while I took two hours?!" He exclaimed. Tidus laughed and bowed, a hand held out in front of Sora. The brunette hesitantly placed his into Tidus', standing up.

"Let's go!"

* * *

They ended up being forty-five minutes late into the party. The location was somewhere in the mountain on the island and therefore required vehicle transport, and there were quite a lot of people. Nevertheless, they arrived. Two doormen opened the door for them, and they walked through a long corridor with two turns until they reached the door that would lead directly to the dance floor. Both Tidus and Sora gulped, exchanged glances, gave nods to each other, and let the doormen open the doors.

Someone was making a speech up ahead at the stage, everyone else seated around dinner tables. The couple's entering interrupted the speaker, and one of the spotlights was thrown upon the two. Sora narrowed his eyes, clinging a little more to Tidus. It was this reason that he couldn't see the silver-haired boy at the very front table, staring at him like he'd never seen a woman before. People at the tables started murmuring, and Naminé leaned closer to Riku.

"Isn't that… Sora?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know…" Riku replied, somewhat stupefied. "If it is… I don't know what to say…"

But in truth, he did. He knew what he would say; he just wouldn't say it in front of Naminé. It would hurt the girl's feeling, to know that Riku found a boy dressing as a girl to be much more attractive than she was.

The speaker wittily excused the couple, letting them to be escorted to their seats, and continued on. Much to Sora's disappointment, dinner had already been served. The dance session was going to start just after the speech. It wouldn't be soon before he could eat.

Sora didn't really know how to dance; he just followed Tidus' steps, listened to his commands and tried to learn. Learning with an empty stomach made it particularly hard. Soon he was stumbling more often than he made a step, and Tidus could tell that Sora would spring his ankle if they continued any further.

"Let's get something to eat, Sora." He led them out of the waltzing crowd, bringing the brunette to the food stands. There Sora finally had some fulfillment, as he tried to eat as lady-like as possible while listening to Tidus' chat.

Riku saw the idly standing couple as a chance. He hastily ended his steps with Naminé, who was immediately waltzed away by another man, and made his way to the couple. Both of them were immediately alerted by the teen's presence. The three of them stood for a moment, two of them confused and expectant, one of them thinking of only one thing.

"May I?" Riku bowed down before Sora, and held out his hand. Sora gasped silently, eyes glancing over to Tidus. The blond smiled at him and nodded, approving the partner change. Sora gulped, blinking nervously as he slipped his hand into Riku's. Instantly they twirled into the crowd, following the rhythm of the music gracefully. Well, at least Riku was. With the silver-haired boy's hand holding his, and the other hand on his waist, Sora felt like he was lifted off from the ground and had no trouble following Riku's steps.

"You look beautiful tonight." Riku whispered with a smile, gazing into Sora's cobalt eyes.

For some reason Sora began to blush involuntarily. "T-Thanks."

Riku's smile grew at the boy's reaction, his hand sliding down to hold Sora's waist with both hands. The brunet naturally placed both his hands around Riku's neck as the music changed into a much more soft, more modern-pop melody.

Tidus was watching them with uneasy content when someone approached him. She greeted him, yet he couldn't recognize her for a moment. When she chuckled and revealed her identity, Tidus was shocked to the core. Yuna, his childhood friend, has grown so much since them met last time. And what a coincidence it was that they could meet again after all these years. But then again, Destiny Islands was Tidus' hometown; it would only be natural that Yuna would be here.

"Mind to have a dance with me?" She asked. Tidus nodded and held her hand, leading her into the crowd.

* * *

After the music ended, Riku suggested that they go to the beach for a walk. Sora agreed but first wanted to use the restroom. Riku nodded, smiling gently as he watched behind Sora with dreamy eyes. The corridor was dimly lit, like all the other ones in this mansion. And to Riku, Sora was the shining light.

Distractions were always present, though. Somewhere to his left in the distance he could hear moaning sounds. Ever the curious one, Riku perked his ears up and walked down the hallway, peeking around the corner.

There against the wall, their proximity intimately close, were one man and one woman, almost sucking each other's faces off. Riku was first embarrassed, then turned into doubt and then anger.

"What is this?" He mumbled, successfully interrupting the making-out couple. They both gasped and turned to Riku's direction. The girl looked confusedly at Riku, wondering who he was, while the boy stammered and tried to find something to say.

"Riku… It's not what you think…"

"You're one of the contestants, aren't you?" Riku asked the blond and tanned boy coldly.

"Yes, but I can explain…"

"What do you think you're doing?!" Riku bellowed, "This is an act of betrayal to me."

"Betrayal…?" The girl echoed, then muttered quietly to the blond, "Tidus, what is he talking about?"

Sora came by just in time, and his smile dissipated when he heard Riku yelling. He rushed quickly down the corridor, turning the corner only to hear…

"You're disqualified." Riku declared to the blond boy icily. Sora widened his eyes at the three people before him. Riku turned around, caught Sora's eyes, then grudgingly walked away.

"Wait… what's going on?" Sora asked, hoping to get an answer from anyone on the scene. "Tidus, what happened?"

Tidus bit his bottom lip, looking down at the ground shamefully.

"Wait for me here." Sora gave the boy's shoulders a firm squeeze before running after Riku.

* * *

"Hey, wait up!" Sora called after the trudging Riku. "Where are you going?" He arrived in front of Riku, preventing the boy from going forward. "What's going on? What do you mean he's disqualified?"

"I mean what I said." Riku crossed his arms in front of his chest, "He's disqualified."

"Why?"

"Because he betrayed me, that's why!"

"Betray…?"

"He's in my contest but he went to kiss another girl." Riku rolled his eyes. "A person that betrays so easily has no right to love someone."

"You're the one who have no right." Sora blurted out indignantly. "Do you even know his name? You don't. Why can _you_ determine whether or not he has the right to love someone? To be honest, aren't you just being afraid? Afraid that the people around you won't like you? Afraid that they won't do as you say, as you want them to? You're scared that they will leave you, so you have to be the first to leave them. 'Cause this way, it's always their fault, their wrongdoing; this way, you will be safe. Am I wrong? You didn't even listen to his explanation!"

"Say…" Riku's breathing became labored with anger. "Why are you protecting him? He's your enemy, your competitor. Why are you helping him?"

"Because he's my friend." Sora replied firmly, eyes sparkling with determination. "He is my only friend here. I'm stupid, and clumsy; I didn't tell you this, but last time, Selphie cheated me. She lied to me, and betrayed me. I, too, thought I shouldn't trust anyone here. But then, Tidus was there. He taught me things no one cared enough to tell me before, and helped me when I had no idea what I should do." Sora paused. "Therefore… Therefore, I believe he must have a reason for what happened. Please believe in him!" He bowed down.

"Sora…" Tidus was at the door of the mansion, and arrived just in time to see the boy begging his crush to let him stay. When Sora straightened up, he saw Tidus, and gave him a nod with a reassuring smile.

* * *

Next morning, Sora sat in his bed anxiously, fingers fidgeting with the blanket. Tidus sat down at the edge of his bed, handing him a cup of tea. They stayed silent; the only sound coming to their ears was the birds' chirpings. Sora sighed. He never thought that there would be a point in the contest where he would actually want to stay in with someone. Tidus saw the brunet's anxiety, and patted his shoulder, giving a nod.

"Let's go." He smiled sadly. Sora hesitantly nodded.

Everybody has already arrived at the beverage store, seated. Sora and Tidus sat in their respective seats, and Roxas stood up.

"So it has come to the second elimination." He announced. "This will be all the eliminations for the week, and you can enjoy the weekends without worries."

_As if they wouldn't start worrying about the second week…_ Sora pulled his face long at the comment.

"The following numbers I read will be the contestants that can stay in this competition." Roxas said, taking a list out, "And I read according to the attraction Riku feels towards them. Number one, Number four, Number eight, Number nine, Number three, Number five, Number eleven and Number six."

Sora widened his eyes.

"Congratulations. Please come over here." He opened his palm to the space where the called contestants, including Sora, went. Sora looked back at Tidus uncertainly, while the blond just simply gave him a nod.

"Both Number seven and Number two, please stand up." It was between Tidus and the girl who did not know how to surf. "A word from Riku, 'This week, several significant things happened. For once, my actions were raised into question; my decision was rejected. So I had to start from scratch, to look back at the beginning, and choose two candidates from that. We have here, a girl who tried to get to me, but had failed considerably, and a boy who didn't try anything, but rather turned the cards on the table on me.

"'I had a hard time deciding, and someone said something to me that really made me think, that really impeded my judgment. I was left in a situation of doubt, where I must choose to believe. I must give up my faith first, before I could see the results.'" Roxas exhaled. "And that's all from Riku. Now, the number that I will call indicates the person that can remain in this contest. The person whose number is not called will be sent back to Radiant Garden.

"The contestant that will remain is…" Sora's hands were fisting at his side, digging his nails into his palms. "Number two."

Tidus' breath caught, and Sora cried into the air "Hooray!" while punching his fists into the air.

"We did it, Tidus!" Sora pulled the utterly shocked boy into a hug, as Tidus' face slowly changed from wide eyes and big mouth to relieved laughter. "Hooray!! C'mon, everyone! Let's scream 'Hooray!'" Sora brought everyone into a circle. At first they were tentative, thinking that Sora was such a weirdo. But Sora's heated vigor was contagious, and soon everyone was shouting happily.

"You kept the one who betrayed you?" Axel smirked, placing a hand onto Riku's shoulder. "How unlike you."

"Well…" Riku drawled out, eyes fixed on one particular energetic brunet. "I just thought that… maybe I can believe in his words this time."

* * *

A/N: Yayyyyyyy so the whole point of this story is to share with my readers some of the morals I discovered for my life. I hope I have done a good job delivering the concepts~! Now I'm off to Florida!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!


	4. Chapter Four: The worst enemy

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter four: The worst enemy**

_Previously…_

"_You kept the one who betrayed you?" Axel smirked, placing a hand onto Riku's shoulder. "How unlike you."_

"_Well…" Riku drawled out, eyes fixed on one particular energetic brunet. "I just thought that… maybe I can believe in his words this time."_

* * *

It was Saturday morning and Sora really just wanted to sleep in more than anything else. Seriously, who would defy this boy his only chance to get some rest after a prolonged period (it was one week, to be exact) of competing and so much brainstorming that his brain felt as if it would burst?

Well, Kairi would.

Groaning into his pillow, he let his arm blindly do the search for the phone. Once it found it, he grabbed the screeching thing, grumpily pressed a button, and placed it to his ear.

"Hello…?"

"Can I speak to Sora please?"

"I _am_ Sora." The brunet muttered irately.

"Ew… You are? What are you, 40?" Sora could hear the redhead making faces. "What's wrong with your voice?"

"It's Saturday morning, Kairi." Sora sighed and sat up from his bed. "So, what do you want?"

"Don't be so cold!" She whined with a chuckle, "So, did the dance go well?"

_Oh… right. The dance._ Sora grumbled mentally, inhaling before he started to tell her about the whole night. How he was completely shocked by her "gift", how Tidus helped him dress out, how he danced with Riku, and how Riku caught Tidus kissing another girl.

"…Anyway, it all ended in good and Tidus got to stay." Sora sighed contently.

"Good your head!" Kairi scowled, "How can you be so stupid as to helping your competitor?!"

"I'm not that kind of a person!" Sora pouted, his attention diverted when Tidus came back into the room. "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later." With that, he hastily hung up.

"Aw man, she's still on the top after all." Tidus sighed as he collapsed onto his bed face down.

"She who?"

"Naminé." Tidus turned over. "I heard that she really likes Riku, like, really likes him. They say that she's a daughter from a rich family in Radiant Garden, and she has liked Riku since they were kids. It's gonna be hard trying to win Riku from her… she's got so many good qualities about her…"

"That's true…" Sora agreed sullenly, "She's so pretty and quiet. I've never seen her done anything bad. It's almost like she's an angel."

"Hey, then how about we become friends with her and go on a group date with Riku?" Tidus sat up, hopeful. "Maybe that'll bring us to a higher rank."

"Maybe…" Sora rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "By the way, what happened last time? Who was that girl that you were… kissing?"

"She was an old friend." The blond scratched his head sheepishly. "It was just a goodbye kiss, I swear. I don't know what Riku saw it as, but we didn't mean it like that. I'm really sorry to get you involved. If it wasn't because of me, you probably could've ranked higher than Naminé."

"Aw, don't worry." Sora stood up and patted Tidus' shoulder. "You helped me so much. I was just doing what I can."

Tidus nodded with relief, and Sora smiled. "Let's go find Naminé."

* * *

The ocean of Destiny Islands was ever gleaming, pale waves complementing the deep cerulean sea. The morning sun was warm, and the beach was already sporting young people scattered along the outskirt. Naminé sat alone in a chair of the beverage shop, looking out to the playing teenagers, the brushing ocean. She observed how the rays of the sun rained down onto wet skin, how the water beads reflected the light through different directions.

Sora and Tidus were going to approach her, but they were intercepted by a group of girls first.

"Hey you." A girl, seemingly the leader of the group, said impolitely. "You're Number one, aren't you?"

"Yes." She replied reclusively. "Is something the matter?"

"We are just here to tell you not to think too highly of yourself." The girl asserted. "Riku likes you for now but soon he'll turn his attention away."

"Is that so?" Naminé sighed, looking down. "Well, if you say so. But I still think that Riku will choose me in the end." She smiled harmlessly. "I believe that my love for him will touch him until the end."

"Huh?" The girls twitched their lips and crowded around the innocuous girl. "What kind of attitude is that?"

The leader girl made a really ugly face, and raised her arm, her palm flat and ready to slap on Naminé. Sora ran up and held her wrist.

"Please don't do this." He said with a threatening voice. The girl glared at him, then stalked off with her gang of sidekicks.

"You alright?" Sora asked. She nodded slightly, and the brunet sat down across from her. "Um… excuse me, but…" Sora paused to phrase his question correctly. "Why… do you like Riku that much?"

"Eh? Well… there isn't exactly a reason…" She looked down shyly, blushing. Even Sora and Tidus thought she was cute, no wonder she could maintain number one in Riku's heart. "I just… love him since a long time ago. How should I put it? It's just a feeling that I got when I was still a girl. Like, 'ah… I'm going to marry that person…' Or something like that."

_She's even down to marriage…?_ Sora was a little unnerved by Naminé's pure yet unwavering candor. What's worse, it was that innocence and vulnerability she showed that shook Sora the most. How could he possibly try to take Riku away from her, when she had probably devoted her entire life into loving Riku? Moreover, she entered this contest because she _really_ loved Riku, whereas he entered because he wanted revenge on his ex. Suddenly feeling disgraceful, Sora stood up silently without another word, and started leaving for his room.

"Wait, Sora!" Tidus pulled at the boy's shirt. "Aren't you going to ask her to go on a group date with us?"

"Sorry." Sora let out a breath. "Somehow I don't feel like going anymore. If you want, you can go ask her yourself."

* * *

As Sora made his way back to the hotel across the beach, his mind was plagued by Naminé's words. _I believe that my love for him will touch him until the end. I just... love him since a long time ago. It's just a feeling that I got when I was still a girl._

_I can't win against someone who loves him so much…_ Sora sulked when his cell phone rang. Kicking some sand away from his sandals, he pulled out the phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"You certainly have some guts to hang up on me." _Shit. Kairi._

"I'm sorry." Sora winced, reaching the hotel and going back up to his room. "But, no matter. I'm coming back."

"Coming back?" The girl asked confusedly, "What do you mean?"

"I'm going back to Radiant Garden." Sora declared, ignoring the girl's undignified gasp. "I've been thinking about a lot of things. I just don't think this is right, after all. I'm coming into this contest, not because I love Riku, but only because I wanted to prove a point. This is just unfair for those who actually like Riku." Sora sighed. "Just being here is already unfair to those who got eliminated before, and if I win – even though I hardly think so – I'm going to end up hurting a lot of people. Kairi, I can't bring myself to do such a thing to the others."

"You're saying this _now_?!" The maroon-haired girl protested. "That's real stupid. I don't remember having a friend like you."

"Huh?" Sora whimpered; Kairi sounded really angry.

"Gah, forget it." Kairi scowled. "Come back if you wish, but don't expect me to pick you up."

The dead line met Sora before he could speak. Sora sighed; what a mistake he had made. He always only wanted the good for everyone, but now he ended up hurting so many people. Kairi, Tidus, Selphie, Riku… _I don't know what I should do._ Sora frowned, hating himself.

* * *

"Forfeit?" Roxas blinked twice before responding. "Now? Why?"

"For personal reasons." Sora gulped and bowed down, "Thank you for taking care of me thus far. Do I have to report to the Fan Club President for a flight back to Radiant Garden?"

"Well, I suppose I can arrange it for you." The blond boy said, "But are you really sure about this?"

"Yes." Sora nodded, "I came into this contest for a reason other than liking Riku. If I continue like this, it will be unfair for the other people. Especially those who love Riku so dearly…"

"I see." Roxas laced his hands together. "Alright. I'll transfer the message to Riku."

"Thank you." Sora bowed again. Then he turned and walked out of the beverage hut's office. Daylight was over, and the sky was deep violet-colored. Sora could see the stars in the sky already, the night breeze welcoming him to the beach. It tasted salty, like ocean water. He would miss this place.

* * *

During the following two days, Sora had packed up as discretely as he could without bringing up Tidus' notice, and had been declining any offer of hang-out with Riku from the blond. On the third night, he caught a chance when Tidus was sound asleep, and silently left the room, luggage in toll.

"Ah…" A voice caught his attention when he walked past the beverage shop. It was Axel, leaning against the wooden railing of the hut, gazing up at the sky. "Running away, huh?"

"Eh?" Sora raised his eyebrows, then pointed at himself. "You're talking to me?"

"Well, isn't it true?" Axel looked over at the brunet. "You're running away."

"No, not really-"

"You see a strong opponent like Naminé, you start to think that you have no way to win this, and so you run away." Axel looked back up at the sky. "I've seen so many like you… It's like you're controlled by her, manipulated to her liking. Riku never could seem to get out of it. I was starting to think that you might be different, but… you turn out to be just the same. Just another star about to fall…"

"No, I didn't quit just because of her." Sora denied. "Well, she is part of the reason, but mainly it was because of me. To tell you the truth, I didn't like Riku. I still don't really like him. Coming into this contest was a mistake, and now I'm trying to amend that by leaving-"

"I guess you don't know, huh?" Axel kept cutting him short. "The reason Naminé keeps getting the top rank."

"Reason…?" Sora frowned, "Isn't it because Riku likes her, too?"

"Wow, you _are_ naïve." Axel laughed. "Riku has history with Naminé. Their families were kind of… business partners. Riku was the son of one family and Naminé was the daughter of the other. To their parents, to their families, to their relatives and even to Naminé herself, they were the perfect couple. They were meant to be together. But Riku doesn't think so. To Riku, she was always just a younger sister. Maybe he liked her for a while, but it didn't last long. Riku could never say it out loud, though. For as long a friend as I have been, he never tried to defy Naminé in any way. Maybe it's his parents, but I think it's more because of her. Because of how she puts so much hope in him, of how she seemed to be the type that would kill herself if anything goes wrong with Riku. Now that I think of it, it's almost like she's manipulating him, like how she manipulated you.

"When she told you of how much she loves Riku, you felt guilt, didn't you? Call me too suspicious if you will, but I think that's her way of making sure that Riku will be by her side. Anyone with a heart good enough would leave her and Riku alone, and in the end, Riku could never get away from her. He didn't even dare put her anything below rank one, just so that she wouldn't breakdown." The redhead sighed, and took out a pack of cigarettes, picking one out to light it on. "Why do you think you're still here until now after all that's happened? Why do you think you didn't get eliminated after the first two rounds? It's because Riku wanted to believe in you. You were so different; when you came around with that ball of light around your face, I really thought that Riku could finally get away from Naminé for once. He believed that you could change his life." Axel sighed. "But I guess we're all outta luck."

The wind blew stronger, hitting Sora's face with icy coldness. He chuckled bitterly, looking down at his feet. "I'm really a coward, aren't I?"

"Eh? …Ah… Yeah." Axel nodded rightfully without hesitating for politeness. Sora pouted even more, feeling even worse of himself. He could not blame Axel though. He was indeed running away. Nevertheless, a mistake had been made; hurt had been cast upon others. He could only wish that this was the last wrong choice he had to make.

* * *

Sora stood alone in the airport. The gummi ship would depart in an hour. He had plenty of time. _The elimination must be starting…_ He thought as he stared up at the clock. _I wonder if Tidus had found out what happened to me yet…?_

Suddenly he felt guilt. One of the most painful consequences of his decision was Tidus. His poor friend would be abandoned. Sora wondered if Tidus would even consider Sora as his friend after he found out the truth. He probably wouldn't. Sora heaved a sigh. Radiant Garden wasn't something to look forward to, either. Kairi was still angry at him, although the brunet started to doubt that it was simply because he quitted.

_What is she being so mad about?_ Sora frowned. _"I don't remember having a friend like you."_ What did she mean? It didn't sound like it was relating to his forfeit. _It's because he wanted to believe in you. You were so different. I'm really a coward, aren't I? Yeah._

Sora looked up. Something suddenly hit him.

_I don't remember having a friend like you._

_A coward?_

_Yeah._

* * *

The third elimination was starting, yet Sora was nowhere to be found. Tidus was anxious; wondering where his friend was. He feared that something might have happened to the boy, but then he couldn't find out for sure. Even when the announcement process started and the people were all seated, Sora's seat remained empty.

"Today is the day of the third elimination. And before we start our course, I have a special announcement." Roxas stated. "A few days ago, contestant Number eleven, Sora, came to me and declared that he has decided to-"

"Wait!" A voice called out at the other end of the table. Everyone turned back, and Sora was right there.

"I take it back." The brunet said, hoping that his last-minute retractation was still valid. "I'm not leaving. I won't run away. I'm different. I'm not a coward."

Axel smirked his Cheshire cat smirk, and gave an approval nod.

"Er…" Roxas was at a loss of word. He turned to Riku, and lowered his voice, "W-What should we do…?"

"Hm… Let's see…" Riku rubbed his chin, restraining his smile. "Alright, I'll decide again on my own." He stepped up. "The one that is going to be eliminated today is…

…Number five." He concluded. It turned out to be the girl who led the group that harassed Naminé.

"Har?!" The girl sputtered disgracefully.

"Yay!!" Tidus jumped, "Sora! We're in!"

"Hm." Sora's eyes were thinned to lines. "Ah, hold on. I have something to say to Naminé." He walked off towards the sitting girl who was smiling to herself secretly. Everybody stopped their cheering and moved their attention to the brunet.

"Naminé, I have something to say." Sora expressed affirmatively. "I'm not afraid of you. I know how much you love Riku, and how hard it is to take him out of your hold, but I'll do it. I'll show you. I won't let you control me anymore. I won't let you control anyone's life anymore. Just watch. I'll change this. I won't lose to your love for Riku."

"Well, well, well." Axel sniggered, especially at Riku's slowly blushing face. "That's what I'm talking about."

* * *

A/N: Can't believe I forgot to upload this chapter on FF. Too tired to do anything right now *dies*.


	5. Chapter Five: Sora, Fall in love!

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter five: Sora?! Fall in love?!**

_Previously…_

"_Naminé, I have something to say." Sora expressed affirmatively. "I'm not afraid of you. I know how much you love Riku, and how hard it is to take him out of your hold, but I'll do it. I'll show you. I won't let you control me anymore. I won't let you control anyone's life anymore. Just watch. I'll change this. I won't lose to your love for Riku."_

"_Well, well, well." Axel sniggered, especially at Riku's slowly blushing face. "That's what I'm talking about."_

----

Sora brought up courage before he knocked on the door of Roxas' hotel room. He had come to return the gummi ship ticket Roxas gave him last time. However, it was not the blond who opened the door to greet him. Sora's jaw dropped ten feet below when the person appeared before him.

"What do you want?" Axel asked with half-lidded eyes, a cigarette dangling at the corner of his lips. He was half-naked.

"I-I just wanted to… give this back to Roxas." Sora handed the paper sheepishly.

"Oh…" Axel chewed the cigarette a little and took the ticket from the brunet's hands. "Okay. I'll tell him when he wakes up." Then he proceeded to slam the door shut. Sora blinked, and then walked away giggling.

----

"So in the end you didn't come back." Kairi's voice sounded pleased. "Did it finally get through your thick skull that you're the only one who can win this?"

"That's not true!" Sora disagreed. "Naminé is still on the top so far."

"Oh yeah… What a tough one to beat down." Kairi sighed. "…Well anyway, you definitely need to go on a date with Riku first. How about a surfing date?"

"But I don't know how to surf!" Sora whined. "Tidus told me not to do anything I don't know. It'll make it worse!"

"Well DUH I know you can't surf." Kairi rolled her eyes. "But _he_ can."

"What are you trying to say…?" Sora cocked an eyebrow.

"Argh. Forget it. You'll find out." Kairi smirked. "Just go ask him to go on a surfing date with you."

Pouting, Sora helplessly agreed to Kairi's proposal without knowing how exactly it was going to work out. Girls always speak in riddles. Geez.

----

Miraculously, Riku agreed to Sora's proposal. But then he asked, "Do you know how to surf?"

"No." Sora replied straightforwardly. _Real nice, Sora, too honest._ Riku raised his eyebrows at the boy, then Sora remembered that he just made a fool out of himself. Amidst the chaos in his mind, he blurted out one question.

"Can you teach me though?"

"Sure." Riku shrugged, a grin growing on his face. "I'll see you at two, then."

"Okay." Sora couldn't help the smile that spread across his face either. When Sora walked away, he finally realized what Kairi meant. _I know you can't surf. But he can._

They met up at two on the beach. Surfing turned out to be a lot more difficult than he thought. They shared a board, Sora standing in front and Riku standing behind him. There were some points when Sora could feel Riku's breath on his ear and he couldn't help but blush; but mostly he was just focusing on not falling.

"Ah!" Sora made really girly squeals, Riku found out, as the boy squeaked at another wave coming at them. "R-Riku… I'm falling…!"

In a hasty motion, Riku swooped his arms around Sora's waist, pressing the brunet to himself. Sora whimpered, and blushed when he could tell the proximity between them. Riku blinked embarrassedly before letting go of the brunet.

"You okay?" He asked gingerly.

"Y-Yeah." Sora nodded hastily. Thank goodness Riku was standing behind him so he wouldn't see that color on his face.

Before their scrambled thoughts were sorted out, another wave came splashing down onto them. The entire surfboard was thrown off-balance, and among the confusion Sora grabbed onto whatever his hand could first, which was Riku's hand. Both of them ended up falling into the water, of course, soaked and drenched in the salty seawater. With much struggle, they managed to surface; and when they looked at each other, they laughed. Purely amused laughter came out of their mouths; no worries of any kind, just happiness.

"I had fun today." Riku smiled genuinely at Sora, the surfboard in his right arm.

"Hm." Sora nodded. "Me too."

They parted there, Sora with a satisfied smile on his face that he didn't know of. As he walked back to the hotel to get a shower, Tidus found him and jeered.

"Hey, look who's got a totally love-struck face!" He playfully shoved Sora's shoulder. "I bet your date with Riku turned out well."

"That's not it!" Sora pouted. "I'm not in love with him… I just had fun, 's all."

"Right." Tidus cleared his throat, rolling his eyes. They continued to walk down the hall, unaware of what was awaiting in their room.

"Hi Sora!" Was the first thing they heard when they opened their door.

Sora froze. Well, both of them froze, actually.

"K-K-K-K-KAIRI?!" He sputtered in an unmanly fashion.

"What's that face?" She pouted. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"That's not the point!!" Sora's eyes were now widened in horror. "What are _you_ doing here?!"

"This is what I get for being such a great friend? So much for coming all the way over here." She rolled her eyes and sat herself onto Sora's bed. "Why, of course, I came here to help you, Sora."

"Help?" Both boys tilted their head the same direction.

"I was starting to think that just small dates with Riku wouldn't work, so I have to come here for a personal check; and to develop new strategies, of course." She twirled her wise-old-sorcerer-finger-twirl again.

"Can you be…" Tidus blinked. "That friend of Sora who sent him those limited edition high heels before?"

"Bingo!" She snapped her fingers at the blond. "Why, you know it too?"

"Of course!" The boy rushed up to her. "I've got so many questions for you! How did you get it? How much…"

Sora tuned out after that. He grudgingly stalked off to the bathroom, leaving his two other friends behind in their own fashion-infected world. When he was in the shower, he found his thoughts drifting back to Riku, to how fun the date was. But no matter how great that was, Sora was convinced that their relationship can only be called at most as platonic lovers… if that makes any sense.

----

Kairi went on a "geographic study" of the island the next day with Tidus, leaving Sora behind. The boy resorted to relaxing at the beverage shop. And it just so happened that Naminé was having a date with Riku there. The brunet remained discreet, though, hiding at the corner closest to the hotel. Sora was observing the couple from the corner of his eyes when Roxas walked past in front of him.

"Ah! Roxas." Sora called out before the blond went too far away. Roxas stopped and looked back.

"Oh, Sora. Hi."

"Hey, did you get that ticket I gave you back last time?" Sora perked his eyebrows.

"Ticket… O-Oh, yeah." Roxas nodded, then blushed when he remembered he did not get it directly from Sora, but through Axel. "Axel told me…"

"Eh… You're blushing." Sora poked his nose into the matter teasingly.

"I'm not!" Roxas denied halfheartedly, then hung his head low. "Can I sit here?" He pointed at the bamboo chair across from Sora's.

"Of course." The brunet agreed heartily and Roxas climbed through the wooden railing to sit down. "So… you and Axel… did it?"

"Hey, it's not like we're not dating properly!" Roxas' blush grew harder. Sora chuckled.

"I'm not saying it's anything bad." He said, making Roxas feel a little more comfortable. "But I'm just curious… why him? I mean, this sounds really stupid but… you didn't seem to be the one who'd like that type."

"Well, yeah. He was _not_ my type." Roxas laughed. "I was bi but I still preferred girls. I never thought I'd meet someone cocky enough to dominate me… until Axel appeared. He's just special, I guess." He shrugged. "It's kind of funny, but when I met him, he was just the same as he is now. Cocky, cold on the outside, kind of like that 'I'm too cool for you' type, you know? I didn't like him then. But for some reason, I wanted to put a smile on that face." He expressed. "Stupid, isn't it?"

"No, not at all." Sora responded, eyes diverting to Riku who was never the initiative one to make conversation. He seemed so unfocused, so out of it even when Naminé was talking. Where was the smiling face he saw yesterday? "I can understand how you feel, Roxas. There's someone I want to keep happy, too."

"Well, that's love." Roxas sighed.

"Is that so?" Sora bit his bottom lip, thinking profusely. Roxas smiled and nodded.

----

Kairi came back with a clamor, loudly and excitedly claiming that she had discovered something remarkable. Sora perked his eyebrows, stared at her like she was crazy, and then finally asked her what she was all giddy over about.

"Tidus and I found an island!" She whispered breathlessly. "I can't believe it! It sits just right out to the southwest of the main island, and it's really small."

She took out a piece of paper, drawn on it was an outline of the Destiny Islands. Sora could see that Kairi drew something at the bottom left corner of the map.

"Here." She pointed at the outline she drew. "We mapped the beach of the smaller island. There are other places we didn't go to, but we saw that there was a way to get there."

"Okay…" Sora tilted his head. "So?"

"So, you should totally go explore it with Riku!" She shook his arm, a grin on her face. "We rented a small boat to get there, so you should be able to do so too without any problem!"

Somehow Sora didn't have a very good feeling about this. But he didn't dare to contradict Kairi's intentions. Not when the girl was present on the island. Not when she could perform murder so easily and hazardously.

----

Again, Riku agreed to Sora's offer miraculously. With much urge from Kairi, they set out for the smaller island very soon. There were a few traces of clouds overhead, seagulls squawking noisily as Riku rowed the boat forward towards the small island. It really was small, like Kairi had said. But it seemed to nest undiscovered secrets, too. Well, at least to Sora's sixteen-years-old-pea-like brain.

Kairi and Tidus had left a fat wood stick stabbed in between two rocks as the pier. Riku expertly tied the rope around the stick after they arrived. Sora observed intently at the way Riku worked, his muscled arm moving, his soft-looking silver hair swaying in the wind. Suddenly goose bumps grew all over the brunet's skin, and he looked away. The island seemed enticing, like an adventure yet to be begun.

They decided to go explore the mountain of the island. Yet halfway through their climb to the peak of the island's mountain, the clouds gathered. Far off in the distance, Riku could see globes of light flashing amidst the white yet heavy clouds. The lightning bolts seemed to come closer all the while, as he gradually stopped his movements.

"Sora." Riku called, stopping the boy. "It looks like it's gonna rain."

"Huh?" Sora didn't even get to blink twice before large pearls of raindrops started to fall hard onto his head.

"Let's go back down." The rain suddenly rushed in through large curtains. "We've got to bring the boat onshore."

"O-Okay." Sora yelled through the swashing sound of the rain. Riku held out his hand for Sora to grab, safely leading the boy back down to the beach. The sky was completely dark now, the once gentle breeze an unyielding airstream. Ignoring the soaking of their shirts, they ran through the muddy sand and untied the boat, pulling it out of the swallowing ocean.

By the time they got the boat anywhere near out of range from the sea, they were completely drenched. Riku yelled something, and promptly let go of his end of the boat, prying Sora's grip away from it and pushing him towards the dense trees in the center of the island.

There was a dark, secluded road among these trees, and at the end of it they found a cave, just shallow enough to shelter them from the storm.

"Take off your clothes." Riku demanded.

"What?!" Sora cried, a blush threatening to form on his face.

"I said take off your clothes." Riku peeled his off of himself. "If you keep wearing those wet clothes you'll get sick."

"O-Oh." The brunet obediently did as he was told, handing his sopping shirt to Riku afterwards. Riku laid their shirts out on the floor of the cave before hurrying to the other end of the place to find some dry wood.

"What are you doing?" Sora could not interpret a thing Riku was doing.

"Making a fire, duh." Riku replied distractedly as he rubbed one of the timbers against the other. "Go find me some more wood."

"Okay." Sora went further into the cavern and picked out some wood from the corners. He threw everything into a mess around the wood Riku was using. Then he could only wait, as he watched the tip of the wood closely while drifting his eyes off to Riku from time to time.

Ten minutes later they finally got a fire.

"There we go." The silver-haired teen smiled, throwing the stick he'd been using into the clutter of wood on fire. He then took their clothes and placed it near the flame.

"Wow." Sora mumbled, sitting across from Riku with his knees to his chin.

"Some useful survival skills." Riku grinned, shaking his head of wet hair.

They sat there for minutes, waiting for the storm to pass. But it just seemed to be relentless, for the trees that encircled the cave were the only things that prevented the rain from entering the place.

"Riku…" Sora started tentatively. "Why… did you hold this contest?" He asked cautiously, wondering if what Kairi told him was true.

"Well… I kind of… made a bet." So it was true. "I must find a lover – no matter if it was a girlfriend or boyfriend – by the school year ends or else I'll have to be with this person, which I really don't want to."

_I wouldn't want to, either._ Sora added sourly in his mind. "Is that… the only reason?"

"Kind of. Yeah." Riku shrugged.

Sora frowned. He agreed to the severity of the consequences of the bet alright, but it wouldn't justify a _love contest_. There must have been other ways to get a lover rather than a love contest. "But isn't that… just using whoever's winning this competition?"

"What? Are you saying that this thing is wrong?" Riku asked back.

"It is!" Sora cried out. "This is wrong. You can't find a lover by making people fight and cheat their ways out of each other!"

"Then why'd you enter?" The silver-haired teen sputtered back.

"Well… that's because…" Sora stuttered. Wasn't he, too, just using Riku to prove a point? Who was he to say that Riku was wrong? "Why I entered is not the point. Aren't you just using me, too? I heard it all from Axel. He said that you wanted to get away from Naminé, and that's why you're letting me stay here."

"That's… not entirely true…" Riku looked away. "I kept you here not only because I wanted to get rid of Naminé…" Sora didn't see the emotional change in Riku; he was too blinded by his own anger. "I kept you here also because I-"

"Oh, just get over it." Sora rolled his eyes, standing up. "You're not a baby, Riku. Don't make others interpret what you want to say. If there's something you want to say, just say it out loud! If there's something you don't like, then just tell others that you don't like it! If you don't like Naminé, then just be honest and tell her that!" Sora's hands were fisted at his sides. "Don't use others to 'send an indirect hint'!" With that, he angrily stomped out of the cavern, ignoring the silver-haired teen's calls after him and the rain.

There was only one cave on the island, and Sora was forced to sit somewhere under some trees. One raindrop would fall onto his face, and he would move over a little to get away from it; then another one would hit his cheeks again, and he would move over a little again to avoid it. The poor boy was cold, and wet; the only way he could stay warm was to hug his legs to himself. Oh how he shivered and shivered through the cold, the merciless storm swaying all kinds of cold water drops onto him.

Guilt nibbled away at Riku's heart as he sat motionlessly in the cave. Sora had been out there for a while, and hadn't come back at all. Shouldn't there be a limit as to being angry? The storm was getting worse, and if he didn't come back now…

_Wait… What if something happened to him?!_ Riku widened his eyes and shot up. _What if he needs help?!_ The boy just ran into the rain on impulse. With the storm going at this rage, the brunet couldn't have gone too far. Riku searched around the cave, taking no notice of the scrapes he was getting from the stinging needles of the bushes.

"Sora!" He shouted into his palms. "Sora!"

Sora's head shot up at a distant sound calling his name. Riku came looking for him?!

"Riku!"

Riku's head snapped to the direction of a weak voice. He ran with all his might, chopping off the bushes in his way with his hands until he found the brunet sitting in a dark corner all curled up.

"Sora!" Riku whispered harshly. "You alright?"

"I-I'm… c-cold…" Sora said through trembling teeth.

"Of course you are." Riku said worriedly, picking the boy up in his arms. "You shouldn't just run out like that."

"S-Sorry…" Sora swallowed hard, his breath starting to hitch for his bronchi constricted from the coldness.

"I should be the one apologizing…" Riku sighed, putting Sora down next to the fire once they reached the cave. The silver-haired boy picked up his fairly dried shirt from the ground and placed it over Sora's shoulder. When Sora thought he was going to just rest there until he got better, Riku suddenly wrapped his arms around him and embraced him.

"R-Riku?" Sora squeaked, some life returning to him.

"It's warmer this way." Riku explained, although he was blushing madly. Sora blinked a few times before letting out an "oh", wrapping his arms around Riku's neck for dear life.

To be honest, it felt kind of nice, to be held against Riku's warmth. Sora could feel the other boy's heartbeat as the heat transferred from the silver-haired teen and the fire to him. They were silent, just holding each other like that for a long time, neither of them wanting to part.

"Sora… I didn't get to finish just now." Riku began, a small smile creeping its way to his face.

"Huh?"

"I said I didn't keep you here only because I didn't want Naminé to win." Riku said, bringing the previous conversation back to life. "I kept you here also because… because I think I'm falling in love with you."

_In love…… with me…?!_ Sora widened his eyes. His heart felt like it stopped. His face became a shade of deep pink, as he still tried to process the information he just received. Riku's breath was steady as he pulled slightly away, enough to let him gaze at the brunet.

He kissed Sora. At first Sora was shocked, until his left hand slowly went up to touch a side of Riku's face tenderly as he slowly kissed back. Then he realized.

_I'm… in love with Riku.

* * *

_A/N: can't believe I forgot to upload this last time!! Well my dear readers you got lucky. Next chapter coming right up!


	6. Chapter Six: The value of trust

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter six: The value of trust**

_Previously…_

_I'm… in love with Riku._

----

So the day of the fourth elimination came, indicating the end of the semester vacation. People were seated in their chairs like always. Riku was at the front, looking solemn and serious. Sora sat shyly, biting his lips as he glanced over at the silver-haired teen from time to time.

"Here's the list of contestants that will remain." Axel said languidly and straightforwardly. "I read according how much Riku likes them."

Sora's finger fidgeted.

"Number eleven, Number two, Number one, Number eight and Number four, Number nine, and Number Six." Axel continued. "Congratulations. Now get over there."

Everyone reacted three seconds slower. Naminé was no longer the first on the list. Sora had drowned out all following conversations for he was too astonished to react. Riku didn't look his way, but that didn't keep Sora's heart from beating fast. What a wondrous feeling it was…

----

They made it safely back to Radiant Garden without further significant events. Sora was able to heave a sigh of relief, what with Kairi by his side and all the giggles and talk about him getting first place in the contest now. School would start; everything would be back to normal. The idea appealed to Sora quite well. No more competing with the boorish girls, no more taking glares from the jealousy-ridden contestants.

Hm…

"Welcome back to Radiant Garden, everyone." A familiar voice made Sora perk his eyebrows up as he and the rest arrived at the arrival lobby. The president of the Riku fan club was standing before her two sidekicks, welcoming the group.

"I am sorry to bother after a long trip, but let me inform you briefly before you depart for your homes." The girl continued. "Tomorrow is the first day of the second semester, and also the start of the second phase of the Love Love Contest."

Sora dropped his jaw.

"After the first four eliminations, I'm sure you all have accustomed to the procedures of this contest. Now this contest will move on to Phase 2: School Battleground." The two sidekicks stretched out a scroll with the title on it. "I am sure the contest will be more and more interesting now with school as a factor. Currently, the competing contestants are… Number one, number two, number four, number six, number eight, number nine and number eleven. Please keep it up."

After she left, everyone else began moving to find some way to get back home. Only Sora didn't budge. Kairi stood beside him, wondering what happened to the brunet.

"Sora!" Kairi shook him. "Let's go."

"This thing… isn't over?" Sora let out quietly.

"No duh." Kairi rolled her eyes, grabbing the handle of her luggage firmly. "There were only four eliminations, right? You've still got six more to go."

Sora sulked. This semester would be a really long one…

----

Along the hallway at school, Riku walked obliviously to his locker. No one dared to advance to him, though, for Naminé was behind him, her dangerous aura of innocence blocking out everyone else's slightest attempt at looking at Riku. She hastened up a few steps.

"Lord Riku."

Riku's footsteps halted at her voice. She stepped to stand directly in front of him. Riku gulped.

"Naminé…"

"Don't worry; I'm just here to ask a question." The blond girl said with a gentle voice. "What… makes you like Sora better than me?"

"Huh?" Riku hummed out. "Well… there isn't exactly a reason. It's a contest, isn't it?"

"I see." She sighed. And as she did, tears began to well up in her eyes. What a torture it was for her that Riku was doing this. She always had to chase him, run after him. And now, he's adding more burden to what she already had. She's tired.

"Riku… do you mind going to a walk with me?" She asked. The boy nodded slightly, unsure of what she intended to do.

She brought them to the park, the one they used to go to when they were young. Everything was still the way it used to be. The picnic tables and chairs, the green grass sometimes layered with yellow leaves. Naminé began to reminisce the memories they had together, from Riku's first birthday party to the day they first kissed under that apple tree.

"I never thought much about it, you know." Naminé smiled sadly. They were sitting under that precise apple tree. "It just happened. Mom and Dad expected it, so I did it. I'll follow you everywhere you go." She chuckled, "Now that I think of it, it's kind of creepy."

"That's not it… I understand why you would do that." Riku said, playing with a pen. "I guess we just needed to realize that it wouldn't work."

"I know it wouldn't." Naminé replied, looking far out beyond the horizon. "I know you don't like me. It's just… I never stopped loving you."

Riku looked over at the girl. Somehow he felt guilty for all of this. It may be that Naminé was manipulating him again, but everything she said had been the truth. He had liked her once, kissed her even. How it ended, he couldn't remember. What was before his eyes couldn't be short of anything Sora might have.

"But that's not what I came here to tell you, Riku." Naminé turned to him, "I want to tell you that I'll-"

She couldn't finish the sentence before her mouth was muffled by that of Riku's. She widened her eyes, blinking without the ability to compose a response. This wasn't what she expected at all. She was to… to…

----

Two days passed and Sora hadn't seen Riku at all. Unlucky him, he did not have any classes with Riku. He had heard other girls bragging about sharing the class with Riku, doing this, doing that. He had sighed at every one of them. If he continued like this, he would lose his position as number one.

"Hey, hey, hey! Did you hear?" One of the girls sitting far off in the cafeteria gossiped. "…Yeah I know! That's so unfair! I wish I could kiss Riku too."

The water Sora was drinking was spat out mercilessly. _K-Kiss…_ Sora gulped, _how did they find out…?_

"I heard they kissed under a tree!"

_Tree…?_ The boy frowned, stopping midway to the trashcan with his tray of finished food in hand. _I didn't…_ He tilted his head confusedly; too dense to figure out what was happening. After disposing of the trash, he walked towards his locker, intending to get his books for the next classes.

When he opened the door, though, there was an envelope that slipped through the vent into his locker. Perplexed, he picked up the white, a little stuffed envelope and stared at it, flipping it around.

_For: Sora_

_This is what I have discovered and photographed the past two days. None of it is made up. _

_From: Someone who knows why you entered the contest._

His heart felt like it was in his throat when Sora finished reading the short message and moved his wobbly fingers towards the lip of the letter. The envelope was stuffed abnormally, really, compared to normal letters. The brunet could easily assume that those were photographs inside. _Photographs of what?_

He opened it and, as expected, took out a stack of photos. He blinked a few times before he could make out what was in the picture. His jaw slackened, and his hands trembled even more. He flipped through the pictures faster and faster, until he finished the stack and the photo returned to the first one. The world suddenly felt so distant from him, the hallway stretching and spinning him into vertigo. He dropped onto his knees along with a bead of tears.

----

The doorbell chimed its way into Sora's mother's ear, making her turn off the stove and hurry out to the front door. _Finally, rescue was to come,_ she thought, as she grabbed the round doorknob and opened the door.

"Thank goodness you're here, Kairi." The woman welcomed the dark haired girl into the house.

"No problem." She smiled. "Is he still…?"

"Yeah." Sora's mother frowned worriedly as she led the girl upstairs. "I don't know what to do. He just wouldn't get out of his room. I was cooking dinner, and I thought he might be hungry so he'll come out. But he hasn't left his room at all!"

"Oh gee." Kairi mumbled.

"I'm sorry to bother you about this." The lady stopped before Sora's bedroom door, placing her hands at the girl's shoulders.

"Not at all." Kairi shook her head, knowing full well that she was the cause of all the troubles for Sora's mother. Nodding slightly, she turned towards the door, and raised a hand to knock on it.

"Sora, sweetie? Kairi's here."

"Leave me alone!" Sora's muffled voice replied.

"Sora, if you're not gonna be nice to your friend, you're gonna get it." Sora's mother warned irately. They heard a sigh coming from the other side of the door.

"The door's not locked."

The two females exchanged glances, and Kairi slowly turned the doorknob, opening the door.

"Have a good talk with him, okay?" The older lady placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder one last time. The girl nodded and went into the room. Sora was a slump on the bed, his back facing Kairi. The girl slowly ambled up to the boy, timid and uncertain of how to handle the situation.

"It seems like… I did something stupid…" Kairi winced while scratching the back of her head sheepishly. Sora didn't reply, nor did he move. Seeing as he wouldn't budge, Kairi went around the bed to take a look at the boy.

Damn were his eyes red.

"What happened?" Kairi asked nervously.

"The pictures." Sora's lips barely moved.

"Pictures?"

The brunet's eyes drifted just a tiny bit downwards, over where Kairi was stepping. The maroon-haired girl blinked, and looked down at her feet. She didn't realize that she was stepping onto some sprawling photos, spread out in the way cards would when you throw a deck of them onto the table, stretched in a linear but slightly parabolic way. She knelt down and gathered them, holding them closer to look clearly.

To her horror, the photo depicted a tree and two people kissing under it. Naminé and Riku. The picture was one of those traditional film-originated ones, with a small row of orange numbers at the right bottom corner to indicate the date of the photo taken. There was no way these could be fakes. She shifted to the next photo, and it shocked her even more. It was no longer Naminé who Riku was kissing, but another girl, one of those in the contest. She flipped through the stack, all of them contained Riku kissing with every contestants still remaining in the contest, and all of the dates were printed clearly as of only over the last two days.

"Wha…" Even Kairi couldn't muster coherent words.

"I thought I was special." Sora whispered emotionlessly. "I actually liked him. And now…"

"That jerk..." Kairi climbed up to her feet and stormed out of the room. Finally, Sora moved and jumped out of the bed, following behind her with great effort.

"Kairi!" Sora ran behind her. "Where are you going?"

The girl merely continued running. They ran across streets and turned corners and just when Sora thought he couldn't catch up with Kairi anymore, she stopped at the doorsteps of a house. She rammed on the doorbell button furiously, almost as if she intended to break the device.

The door was opened by a pleasant faced lady. Shockingly though, Kairi pushed her out of the way and barged into the house. Sora widened his eyes and went in after her.

"Kairi!" She ignored both him and the lady who was yelling at her about not being allowed to come in. "I'm sorry!" Sora apologized hastily to the lady before running after his friend.

She was already upstairs. It was clearly a large house, one of those only affordable by the rich. The girl came to a stop at a door after turning two turns.

"Kairi! What's wrong with you?! This is somebody else's house!" Sora whispered harshly. Kairi only looked over at him, and then back at the door.

Then she kicked at it with all her might.

The poor wooden door gave way with a whine. The occupant of the room immediately jumped in his chair and looked around. It was Riku, pulling down the headphones from his ears. His eyes were full of shock, until he glanced beside Kairi and saw Sora.

"You…" Kairi said through gritted teeth.

The lady of the house came by and started screaming incoherent things, trying to drag Sora and Kairi away.

"Mom! Let them go." Riku stood up from his chair. "They're… my school mates."

"O-Oh." The woman slackened her hands. "Well you should've told me that you will have friends over today. I was so surprised… She just crashed inside."

"Sorry…" Riku apologized halfheartedly, more occupied with the death glare Kairi was sending him. His mother waved it off and left the teenagers to their business. Kairi went into the room, dragging Sora, who was quite unwilling, by the arm.

"Is there a reason for this upheaval?" Riku asked, his voice colder than he intended.

"Look at what good things you've done." Kairi stepped up to him and threw the stack of photos onto his desk. Riku blinked as he stared at them, then looked back at the other two with a stunned face.

"W-Where did you get this?"

"Somebody sent it to Sora." Kairi answered hazardously.

Riku snapped his head to the brunet who looked away with hurt written all over his face. Riku didn't know what to say; what _was_ he to say, anyway? He had no way of denying this, with the photos complete and obvious.

"I…" He stuttered, at a loss of words.

"Kairi, let's go home." Sora pulled at the girl's wrist, whining quietly.

"No. We're not going back until we hear what he has to say about this."

"Well what do you want me to say?!" Riku howled out. "This is a contest. This is how they play it. What else was I supposed to do? Push them away?"

When he realized what just came out of his mouth, it was too late.

The previously begging Sora shut up and swallowed, looking at Riku with pain in his eyes. He was never the kind of sappy guy who'd like to say that his heart was broken into a thousand pieces, but right now his heart was broken into a thousand pieces. The world around him seemed to tear itself apart. He stared down and realized there was nothing he could do but fall. Sniffing his tears away he ran, back towards the door and out of the house and down the street.

"Ugh! You're a fucking asshole!" Kairi yelled at Riku before going back to the door. "Sora's forfeiting from the contest!"

----

Sora decided not to go to the fifth elimination. He would have nothing more to do with this contest, this horrible thing that almost consumed him. Kairi didn't stop him; in fact, she stayed at his house the whole night listening to him cry. She felt awfully guilty, for she was the one who dragged the brunet into this. If only she knew that Riku was such a person, she would never have pulled her friend into it.

Tidus called, asking Sora where he was. The brunet replied disinterestedly about his forfeit and, without explaining, hung up.

And then there was another call; Sora growled, thinking that Tidus hasn't given up yet.

"Tidus, I said I'm not going to the elimination! I'm forfeiting!"

"You are?" Came a girl's voice. Sora stopped.

"Um… who is this?"

"Oh, hi, Sora. I'm Naminé." Sora blinked. What could she be calling him for? "Why are you forfeiting?"

"Oh… It's a long story…" _And you're one of the reasons._

"Please don't." Naminé persuaded wholeheartedly. "Please continue in this contest. You have to win. There's no one else more suitable than you."

"What…?" Now Sora was starting to get confused. "Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"

"Well… Sora, I called to tell you that… I'm forfeiting." Naminé confessed uncertainly. "You were right; I didn't love Riku the right way. You told me that you would change that; I believe in you. So please don't leave this contest. You must win this. Please be there and protect Riku until the very end."

"I-It's not just like I'd do it just because you asked me." Sora chuckled nervously.

"I know you might not, but I'm begging you." The blonde girl said. "I was… to say the least, _tired_ of loving Riku. I'm sick of it. I'm not the right candidate to do this. But I believe that you are. I _know_ that you are."

"But I'm not!" Sora insisted. "Riku doesn't even like me. He kissed me and then he went kissing all the other girls! You were one of them!"

"I'm sorry about that. Indeed, Riku kissed me. But I assure you I have no more feelings for him!" Naminé still tried to convince the boy. "Or maybe it doesn't matter that I have no feelings for him, huh? Maybe you are worried that Riku is the one who wants to play around? Well… if that's the case, won't you change him and prove it to him that he was wrong? Won't you wait for him until he realizes that you're the one for him?" She paused a little, as if to think of something to add. "Don't you love him?"

Sora's tongue was caught. What could he say against that statement? He could not deny it. And yet loving Riku was giving him all these kinds of pain and torture. Like drugs that slowly kill you despite the fake pleasure they give.

Naminé repeatedly called his name to make sure that he was still there. Sora didn't reply, though, merely putting the phone back into the charger. He turned to Kairi who had been curious since the phone call started but could only wait for him to tell her what happened.

"I'm going to the elimination."

----

Sora was three minutes late into the room. Riku was utterly shocked by the brunet's presence, while Tidus hurried Sora to his chair. Naminé smiled at Sora.

"Um… Concerning the elimination this week…" Roxas said, standing up. "There is a contestant who wishes to fall out."

He looked over at Naminé, and the girl nodded, standing up.

"Thank you everyone for the experience so far." She bowed down at the surprised crowd. "I will no longer participate in Love Love Contest."

"Ehhhh?!" Everyone except Sora said.

"Well, since a contestant has already dropped out this time," Roxas continued, "There will be no eliminations of the remaining contestants. Now let me summarize who's left here: Number two, Number four, Number six, Number eight, Number nine and Number eleven."

Sora was… still in.

* * *

A/N: Naughty Riku.... \ _________ /


	7. Chapter 7: Difference btwn wrong & right

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter seven: The difference between wrong and right**

_Previously…_

"_Well, since a contestant has already dropped out this time," Roxas continued, "There will be no eliminations of the remaining contestants. Now let me summarize who's left here: Number two, Number four, Number six, Number eight, Number nine and Number eleven."_

_Sora was… still in._

----

"You… came." Riku started softly behind Sora, who stood on a blanket of thick green grass under the bright blue sky and piercing sun.

"Hn." Sora replied with a hum. "I just can't let you go so easily… just yet."

"Why? I did _that_ to you…" Riku felt no different from Selphie all the way back in the beginning of the contest who so blatantly betrayed Sora. He had seen this boy got hurt, one time after another, yet his will never seemed to be blunted by any of it.

"I can't tell you why." Sora chuckled shyly. "If I tell you now, it'd end before it starts." He turned around, pointing at Riku determinedly. "Someday, when I feel like it's the right time, I promise I'll tell you. For now, I won't give up. I won't mind if you go out with other girls and kiss them. I've learned to stand up after falling down."

Riku could only stare at Sora with awe. The brunet smiled, lowering his finger; it wasn't a very promising future, but when has Sora ever backed down from the intimidating?

----

As school began returning to its normal track, Sora had less and less free time for himself. Schoolwork was quite demanding itself; and the clubs demanded even more from him. Just this weekend, he had to attend a community service where he would be planting trees with kids. Well, actually he _signed up _for it; but still, busy was busy.

"Ah, ah, ah. No, no." The brunet said, shaking his head and hovering it over a child's administration. "That's not how you should do it. Remember? First pat on the soil to make it firm, and _then_ you can water the plant."

"This is stupid." The child bluntly declared with a pout. "I don't want to do this." He threw the small spade in his hand into the dug trench, and stood up to run out towards the bustling traffic road.

"Watch out!!" Sora yelled and chased after the boy, sprinting out into the road without hesitation.

_Beeeeeep!!_ A car honked with all its might as it attempted to stop before the brunet. Sora was able to push the boy aside but was hit slightly by the stopping car and sprang his ankle in the process.

"Sora!" Somebody's voice called out, and in the snap of a second he was picked up by two strong hands of a familiar warmth. He was placed down onto a bench on the sidewalk.

"You didn't have to go kill yourself." The voice, laced with haughty scorn, was highly manipulative – or at least trying to be.

"Fuck off," Sora seldom swore; but he couldn't help himself with this dick-ass jerk. "_Ansem._"

"I would fuck myself off to you." The man let a wicked smirk creep onto his face. Sora glared up at him with a murderous gaze, but Ansem pretended it was never there.

"So, how has it been going with the lover-boy?"

"Lover boy?" Sora's brows knitted further together.

"You know, the one you're trying to win his heart?" Ansem said it all-knowingly.

"Riku?" Sora's eyes widened. "How'd you know about this…?!"

"Oh, who are you kidding?" Something dark was lurking under Ansem's bright irises. "You _know_ why he held this contest. And you _know_ who sent you the pictures."

"It was you…" The truth finally dawned onto Sora. "It was all you…"

"You know you've always wanted me." Ansem bent down and moved his face close towards Sora's neck. The brunet was a little lagged before he came to his senses and screamed, attempting to push the silver-haired man away.

"Get away from me, you filthy-"

"You only entered the contest to take revenge on me. You still care so much about me-" Coldness was left wherever Ansem's lips touched Sora' skin as disgust almost completely consumed the younger boy.

"Hey you!" Someone else cried out, and Ansem was yanked away from Sora. Before the latter came back into reality, his rescuer was already assaulting Ansem in retaliation.

"Tidus! Stop!" Sora ran up and pulled the blond boy to stop him from kicking Ansem any further. The silver-haired man cowered and ran away shamefully.

"Are you okay?" Tidus pushed Sora back onto the bench gently.

"Yeah… I'm alright." Sora chuckled sheepishly. "Just hurt my ankle, 's all… Hey, at least I get to see the manly side of you!"

"You stupid…! This is nothing to laugh about!" Tidus revealed an expression of candid concern. "Who was that man?"

"He… was my ex." Sora sighed with an ineffable sorrow in his eyes. "But everything in between us was a lie. I fell head-on into a wall that looked soft… Haven't you ever get one of those feelings, Tidus?"

"I guess not." The boy shrugged, "I've never really been lied to by anyone. I guess I'm lucky."

"Believe me, you'd want it to stay that way." Sora drew out another sigh. "He made me feel so worthless in the end that I just wanted to do everything I can to break him. I know I sound selfish and scary, but I can't help it…"

"Did you feel the same… when you find out that Riku was playing around with all the other contestants?" Tidus inquired carefully, studying Sora's expressions.

"I don't know… Maybe." Sora laughed bitterly, tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. "I'm such an ugly person, am I not?"

"Not at all!" Tidus stood up abruptly. "You helped me when Riku almost eliminated me from the contest! You've been such a great friend and support!"

"Thanks, Tidus." Sora sniffed, and stood up to wrap his arms around the taller blond boy. For some reason, some twisted and distorted cause, Tidus' heart sped fast and his cheeks burned.

---

"Alright, Sora. This isn't working out." Kairi declared the moment she waltzed into the boy's room. "You're so busy with _schoolwork _that you haven't talked to Riku for almost a whole week! The elimination's coming up!!"

"I know but I'm just too busy!" Sora rolled his eyes, flailing his arms up with the pencil still tucked in his fingers. As Kairi had said, the elimination will be up soon and Sora have yet to do anything to "please" Riku (the poor brunet still figures that this way of saying it sounds horribly wrong).

"How about this – you guys go on a simple date just for the sake of not getting eliminated?" Kairi tried sarcastically.

"And what 'simple date' would you suppose?" Sora retaliated.

"I don't know…" She leaned over Sora's bed and picked up some random magazine he left on the floor from a while ago. "How about… a day in the RG City Amusement Park?"

"Amusement park?" Sora laughed out loud, "Don't you think that's a little too typical?"

"This coming from _the _person who kept the magazine from which I suggested the idea." Kairi flipped the magazine so Sora could see the 2-page spread of the park. "Well?"

"…" Sora pouted grudgingly before flailing his arms once more, "Fine!"

As it turned out, though, this date was anything _but_ simple.

----

Sora's manliness was degraded another step by the full two hours he used to prepare himself for the date. He was beginning to wonder if he seriously emitted girly pheromones.

Nonetheless, he primed himself to the best he could and left uneasily for the amusement park. Riku was already there, waiting for him. They wasted half an hour in the beginning between silence and awkward suggestions of where to go or what entertainment to board first.

When they finally decided, the line was long and they had to wait in the awkward silence for another hour or so. And Sora, being the dumb-dumb that he always was, decided that it was the best time to go to the bathroom at this point. He embarrassedly excused himself, unaware of a girl who had been following them.

----

As a humble apology for making Riku wait and embarrassing himself so much in front of Riku, Sora bought two cones of ice cream as he returned to the line they were waiting in – one for Riku and one for himself.

But, as fate has always been the quoted "bitch" she is, Riku was nowhere to be found. Sora was confused at first, and wondered if the line could moved so fast that Riku had already gone on the roller coaster first, so he went to the exit to see if Riku was waiting for him there. No one in sight was familiar to him. Scared, Sora began running frantically around for any sign of the soft silver hair that so made Riku stand out.

----

"Where is he?" Riku inquired, for the fourth time, the girl who was pulling at his wrist. "You said he got into some trouble; where is he?"

"Err… Well, he was here a moment ago!" The girl answered fretfully. "Maybe he got taken away by them! Oh no!"

"Okay, calm down." Riku shook her shoulders, but he was barely containing himself. "You said you saw Sora come out of the bathroom, and then what happened?"

"Then these two men began harassing him and bullying him… I recognized him right away and I ran to get help, and I saw you-" The girl burst into sobs and clung to Riku deliberately. "Oh God! They must've taken him!"

----

After running around in circles within the park, Sora finally caught on a shining silver amidst the daylight. What he saw next prompted him to drop both his ice creams onto the ground.

_Why is Riku with another girl?_ A loud voice squawked within the brunet's head; his feet began moving. _Why is she crying? Why is Riku touching her shoulders?_ He took it once; he can't take it twice. _What is she saying?_

"You said you saw Sora come out of the bathroom, and then what happened?"

_What is Riku talking about?_

"Then these two men began harassing him and bullying him… I recognized him right away and I ran to get help, and I saw you- Oh God! They must've taken him!"

_I'm right here!!_

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!!" The sentence was accompanied by a loud _"SLAP!"_. Sora's eyes were blinded by fury. Riku's eyes were wide as saucers. The girl's lip corner was tainted with blood.

"Sora…?" Riku squeaked weakly; then before he knew it his wrist was pulled by a hand again, this time Sora's.

They ran in no general direction until the fire in Sora burned out. Riku still had trouble recovering from the "trauma" he just witnessed. Sora was doubled over, panting.

"Sora…"

An abnormally high-pitched whimper, one of suffering, broke out before Sora dropped onto his knees. Riku didn't need to look twice to know that Sora was crying; he knelt down, softly placed his hand on Sora's head and shoulder and brought the brunet into his embrace. Sora's hand immediately balled fists in Riku's shirt.

"I… I thought you were going to hug her back and go with her…"

"Sora…"

"I don't know what I should do. I feel like I can lose you any minute. I'm anxious and agitated whenever I'm around you. I'm sorry… I feel like there are so many people who are better than I am and I have nothing to give compared to them. I'm so sorry… I didn't really mean to hit her like that but I don't know what else I'm supposed to do…"

"Sora, Sora." Riku patted the brunet's head. "Listen to me. You've got a lot to offer. You are one beautiful thing and I'm surprised that no one has claimed you before I get to meet you. I think I can claim to be the luckiest man alive to have you fall in love with me."

Upon hearing these words, Sora couldn't help but burst into another round of weeping. His heart was aching so much – not with pain, but love. He couldn't believe just how much he loved Riku.

----

The sixth elimination came with a storm. People gathered in the club room to hide from the rain. As per usual, all the judges and club officers came on time to announce the one that would be eliminated.

"The contestants who can remain in this contest are," Roxas spoke into the microphone, "Number eight, number two, number four and number six. Both number eleven and number nine please step up."

Sora was a little bit surprised that he was put on the bottom two. But then he remembered that he _did_ give number nine a pretty hard slap.

"A word from Riku: 'Both contestants broke rules this week. We have one who had afflicted physical pain; and we had one who afflicted mental torture. In the context of this competition, neither should be justified. The damage done cannot be reversed; however, there are certain measures that can be taken to lessen the pain, and whether or not taking these measures is what made the difference.'

"That's all from Riku. Now, the contestant who will remain is… Number eleven."

Sora broke into relief while the other girl glared at him sourly with her swelled cheek. Sora then turned to her and apologized with a 90-degree bow. Tears of anger welled up in her eyes and she raised her palm, intending to return that slap. However the club officers locked her wrist in place.

"But he _hit_ me! That's a crime he committed!" She yelled.

"Three times." Riku bellowed impatiently. "He apologized three times already, including the one he just did to you. He admitted what he did, and felt the guilt he deserved. And you? You lied bluntly to me without even a blink of the eye, and you never came out about it. I don't need a girlfriend who can lie to me without feeling guilt."

Furious and humiliated, the girl stormed out into the raining weather with shattered dignity.


	8. Chp 8: You've got an explanation to do

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

**Chapter eight: You've got an explanation to do

* * *

**

_Previously…_

"_Three times." Riku bellowed impatiently. "He apologized three times already, including the one he just did to you. He admitted what he did, and felt the guilt he deserved. And you? You lied bluntly to me without even a blink of the eye, and you never came out about it. I don't need a girlfriend who can lie to me without feeling guilt."_

----

"So, she didn't try to sue you for that bitch slap?" Kairi moved to plop down onto Sora's desk chair, her eyes on the brunet who was lying on the bed.

"No… But I still feel so bad." Sora pouted, and then buried his face into the pillow.

"Don't. She deserves it, trying to steal Riku from you like that." Kairi defiantly claimed as she admired her newly-done nails. "Man, it definitely is hard trying to keep a leash on that guy. It's like everybody is preying on him."

"You can't blame him for that." Sora turned to face Kairi, "He's just too-…" He abruptly halted himself and his face grew horribly red. Kairi couldn't help the smirk on her face as he once again buried his face into the pillow.

"Come on! What were you gonna say about him?" Her infamous mischievous grin was on her face again. "He's just too sexy?"

"I didn't say that!" Sora shot up from the bed.

"Then what were you gonna say?"

"I'm not telling you!" Sora stuck his tongue out at the girl and ran out of the bed. Kairi whined and chased after him around the house.

"Sora! Your friend is here!" Sora's mother suddenly called, making the chasing duo stop promptly in their tracks.

At the opened door, beside Sora's mom, silhouetted against the clouded sun outside, was Tidus. He looked up in a strange, shy way at Sora and Kairi, then quickly looked back down. Something secretive was in his eyes.

----

Both Sora and Kairi's mouths were left agape after they heard what Tidus said.

"You're going to quit the contest?!" Sora said unbelievingly.

"Why?!" Kairi added.

"Well, there are numerous reasons." The blond boy shied away from the other two in his chair. "I just feel like… after seeing how hard Sora tried, I don't think I'm the right person to do this after all."

"But that's silly! How can that be?!" Sora gave off a nervous laugh, trying to convince himself that this was not happening.

"No, really…" Tidus sighed. "It's not like I'm insanely in love with Riku… But Sora, you… you really have it in you. I can understand why Naminé said that you're the right person to do this. It's just not fair for me to get in the way when you are trying to get to Riku so badly. Plus, like I said, I'm not really _that_ much in love with Riku. I… I don't know. I'm getting all my feelings mixed up now."

"Does this have to do with… that girl you kissed last time?" Sora began hesitantly.

Tidus looked at Sora for a moment, grasped for words but could not come up with a good way to present his thoughts. He's gotten himself down in a double paradox and he wished he hadn't so foolishly entered the contest now.

"In a way, yes. But there's more to it…" The blond began, smacking his forehead a little as he tried to explain, "Okay, let me explain what happened at the mansion back then on the night of the dance.

"When you went to dance with Riku, I was going to just get something more to eat and stand around a little. But then Yuna, a childhood friend of mine, came up to me. We talked for a while, and I drank quite a bit. We danced, too, and then she said she was a little sick of the crowd. We went off to the side, and she got me some more drinks. She said she was moving, that she was leaving Destiny Islands. She wanted a goodbye kiss from me before she left that night.

"I thought it was going to be just a quick, friendly goodbye kiss. But her hands were taking a hold of my head and she wouldn't let me pull away. That's when Riku found us in the corridor."

"Okay…" Kairi had picked up a pencil from Sora's desk and was tapping it against her chin thoughtfully. "But what does that have to do with you not loving Riku all that much?"

"Well, at first I thought I could immediately go back to focusing on Riku." Tidus said. "But as I go on, I realize that I just don't have that passion in me for Riku. Yuna's kiss was only a catalyst to help me realize that. It's not that I want to be with her, but when I kissed her, I felt no guilt towards Riku at all. It's like I don't owe him anything; like I never loved him before.

"The longer I sit there in those eliminations, the less I feel for Riku. And now, recently I've been… I've been getting strange feelings about this particular person…" Tidus was starting to blush a little. "I don't know. I'm all confused."

"Do you think it would help… if you have a date with Riku?" Sora suddenly suggested, his knees up to his chin and his face a pouting, in-deep-thoughts expression.

"What?" Both Kairi and Tidus asked incredulously.

"I don't like where this is going with you, Tidus." Sora looked at Tidus with such sincere eyes that it only made the blond weaker. "I've indirectly made Naminé give up her place in this contest. And now I'm doing the same to you… It's like I'm cursing you guys in some way without knowing that I'm doing it. I don't want it to be like this. Tidus, why don't you try going on a date with Riku, before you actually make the decision whether to quit or not," Sora stood from the bed to open a window from its windowsill. A breeze rushed in against his face and he could see the scenery outside. "Please?"

"If there is ever a curse with you," Tidus began lightly, "it'll be nothing but the curse of love."

Kairi, switching her gaze back and forth between Sora at the window and Tidus behind him in the chair, had just barely caught on with the liaison between those two. It was impalpable and hard to grasp; but she had caught on with it. Sighing, she gave the chair she was sitting on a pat before standing up.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped, can it?" She crossed her arms, looking at both of her friends in a helpless way.

Sora turned away from the scenery of a sky that is about to cry and smiled at Kairi.

"Thanks."

----

Riku was, in Tidus' viewpoint, slightly reluctant to accept a date with him. Kairi helped with everything about Tidus' outfit and appearance; and Sora was the one who decided and arranged the location of the date.

Before he left, Tidus quietly apologized to Sora. He didn't know if he was apologizing to Sora because it was Riku he would be dating, or if it was because he himself was going on the date. Either way he felt guilty to Sora. But the brunet just smiled in the sad, beautiful way that he always does, and said that he would rather have fair competition and that the purpose of this date is for Tidus to have a balanced standard to compare his final judgment against. Sora admitted that he wanted Tidus to stay because he didn't want to lose the only friend in the contest, but also wanted Tidus to make the best decision for himself after considering all aspects.

So Tidus, bearing the awkward heart that he had, set out to a yacht port where he would meet Riku up.

Tidus wondered a little why Sora chose sailing for a day like this. The sky was still misty from the storm last week, and the white fluffy puffs of cloud seemed to threaten another storm any second.

However, he understood soon when they sailed out the lake. The clouds all had a silver lining, and sunlight was pouring through gaps onto the surface of the sea. It was a glimmering, spectacular sight.

"I'm surprised you would ask me out for a date." Riku said, elbows leaning on the steel railing of the yacht that is drifting along the waves. "I thought… there was someone else you liked."

"There is." Tidus confessed in a modest, sorrowful way. "It's funny because… he asked me to go on this date with you."

Riku was a little perplexed and offended.

"You see, I was thinking of quitting the contest." Tidus looked off to the scenery behind Riku, at the shimmering water and silver-gray sky. "I've wronged you, and I've wronged the girl I kissed last time, and I've wronged the person I like right now. I want to stop it. I told him I want to quit the contest, but you know what he said? He said I shouldn't rush to a conclusion; he said I should consider all the things before I quit. So he told me to go on a date with you. To see if I really have no feelings for you anymore." The blond stood up and turned to lean on the railing beside Riku. Now it was a talk between two men.

"But I think I'm gonna disappoint him." Tidus sighed. "I'm not here to really go on a date with you, Riku. I'm here to tell you that I've made up my mind. I'm quitting this contest. You may be right last time. I may have cheated on you; betrayed you. But I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry; but I'm in love with someone else."

"So today is actually your breakup day with me, instead of a date?" Riku chuckled dejectedly. "I bet he doesn't know you were gonna do this, does he?"

"Nope. He sent me to you thinking that I'm going to try to fall in love with you again." Tidus joined the chuckling. "But here I am, telling you that… I just simply don't think of you in that way anymore."

"…" Riku was holding his chin, his eyebrows knitted in deep thoughts. For some reason, he did not feel at all bothered by Tidus' pulling out from the contest. He did not feel the urge to throw a tantrum at Tidus like he did last time at the dance. However; the resemblance of this person that Tidus likes to a certain someone was beginning to get to Riku. "May I ask a question?"

"Sure." Tidus nodded. He felt like – no, he _knew_ – they were having a conversation like mature adults.

"This person that you like… Is he… Sora?"

Tidus looked into Riku's eyes for a moment, contemplating before he finally said, "Yes."

There was a moment of silence.

"You gonna beat me up for that?" Tidus asked, testing.

"No." Riku said, surprisingly. "If Sora really likes you, nothing would change even if I beat you up. If Sora likes me, then I can only feel sorry for you. Either way, I don't see what good it'll do us to beat you up for loving someone."

A smile cracked Tidus' lips open. "I can see why Sora loves you so much."

Riku stared at the blond skeptically for a moment.

"He does." Tidus turned to face Riku, his expression a little more serious. "Sora really loves you very much."

----

Sora was passing a hallway on the way home when he was stopped by a teacher. She had a handful of books in her arms and asked him for a favor.

"Sora, can you help me bring these to Room B201? A student will be attending detention there and these are workbooks he needs to finish. I'll be there in a moment."

Sora nodded quickly and the stack of books was transferred to his arms. Carefully maneuvering his way to the designated room, he saw a blurry figure of a person inside the classroom obscured by the coarse glass windows.

"Ms. Gainsborough wanted me to bring these-" He stopped midway in his sentence when he placed the books onto a desk and the detainee came into his sight. "Riku?!"

The silver-haired boy looked up from the desk and instantly grew embarrassed. He looked off to the windows to his left, over the vast view of the city. There was a bruise on his right lip corner.

"What happened?" Sora rushed to squat down at Riku's side and asked, carefully perusing the wound.

"I uh… I got into a fight with someone." Riku said as he scratched his forehead sheepishly.

"A fight? With who?" Sora inquired further.

"You don't need to know." Riku grumbled, taking an inhale of breath. "He… He made a bet with me. I have to be his boyfriend if I couldn't get a lover myself. That's why my fan club's president decided to hold this contest; she wanted to help me. And then…" Riku averted his gaze to Sora. His eyes seemed to be telling the brunet that he knew everything now. "He's said bad things about you."

"Me…?" Sora echoed tentatively.

"He said you're lying to me. That you're just playing around with my feelings."

Sora opened his mouth wanting to say something but Riku continued on.

"But you know what I did when he told me that?" Riku sat up and moved closer to Sora. "I laughed. I laughed because it was the lamest attempt he ever tried to make me suspect you."

"A-And then…?" Sora was a little entranced and the growing smirk on Riku's face didn't help.

"And then he punched me in the face for laughing." Riku's emerald eyes held a flood of emotions. Sora raised his hand up a little to touch the bruise on Riku's face softly.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore." Riku whispered before leaning forward to melt his lips with Sora's. The kiss was gentle yet passionate all the same time. Halfway through, Sora let a moan escape his lips and then he realized he had to push Riku away.

"Riku… This… isn't exactly right…" Sora held Riku at arm's length. "The teacher will be coming any minute. And… I know you've just recently had a date with Tidus… Maybe this is all just too quick."

"That wasn't a date with Tidus." Riku pulled backwards and said. "He didn't come to tell me he loves me. He came to tell me he _didn't_ love me. He came to quit the contest."

"What?" Sora's eyes were wide.

"He said he had someone else he liked." Riku sighed, and suddenly pulled Sora into a tight embrace, "I was so scared I was gonna lose you…"

"Lose me…?" Sora was utterly confused. "What…? I don't understand…"

"Do you really want me to tell you?" Riku looked into Sora's eyes. The brunet nodded hesitantly. "He likes you."

Sora was at a loss of words.

"He told me that he loves you." Riku repeated, "And at that moment I felt like – I guess for the first time in my life – actually _scared_. I was actually afraid that I would lose you to him. But then he told me that you love me. I know he's your friend and you trust him so I'm going to trust him, too. I'm going to believe that you are actually in love with me."

Sora blushed and cast his eyes downwards. "Tidus… he told you that… for me?"

"Mm-hm." Riku nodded. "I think that he may actually be a great person. Not everyone can fall in love with someone even if he already knew that that 'someone' is in love with another person."

Sora hugged Riku closely. "I feel so bad…"

"You don't have to." Riku ran soothing fingers through chocolate brown locks of hair. "Both of us love you just as much. Whichever one of us you choose, we both will be here to protect you."

"You." Sora's hands were fisting behind Riku's shirt. Riku let out a questioning "Hm?"

"I'm sorry for Tidus, but… I choose you, Riku."

Riku's heart bumped fast, so fast that he felt like his chest would burst. "Can we go to the bathroom for a moment? I really can't help myself right now."

"Bathroom?" Sora was barely able to ask before Riku left a note for Ms. Gainsborough and quickly dragged Sora by the wrist into the nearest bathroom.

----

The sky was clearing by the time the seventh elimination came. The five remaining contestants gathered in the usual fan club room. Somehow it seemed much lonelier and sadder now that so many people are gone from the contest.

"This week, unfortunately," Axel spoke into the microphone, "There is another contestant who wishes to pull out from this contest."

Tidus stood out from his peers and turned to face them.

"Thank you for the experience so far." He said with a smile. "It had been a very unique and unusual time for me, and I wish the rest of you good luck with finding your true love."

All the contestants except Sora began murmuring clandestinely.

"As it is," Roxas now spoke, "There will be no one eliminated from the contest this week. The remaining contestants are: Number eleven, number six, number four and number eight. Congratulations."

Tidus walked over to Sora as the club meeting dismissed, half expecting Sora to be mad at him.

"Sora, I'm sorry." He apologized.

"Don't be." Sora sighed. "I should've noticed earlier."

"By the time you told me to go on a date with him, it was already too late." The blond scratched his hair sheepishly. "I just don't have that kind of feelings for Riku anymore."

"So you asked him to let you quit." Sora nodded. "I understand. As long as you are happy with decision, I'll be okay with it."

"Thanks." Tidus was grateful for Sora's acceptance. "Hey, Riku didn't… tell you anything else, did he?"

Sora knew what Tidus was worried about. He felt a little selfish; but he decided that playing dumb would be the best for all three of them. "Tell me what?"

"Nothing." Tidus' lips pulled into a smile. "Congratulations."

Feeling better seeing Tidus smiled, Sora smiled back and thanked his dear friend. Neither of them understood what impact Tidus' quitting had on the contest.

* * *

A/N: sorry for the lateness! hope you guys enjoyed it :)


	9. Chapter Nine: Pride and Brain Power

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter nine: Pride and Brain Power**

_Previously…_

"_Thanks." Tidus was grateful for Sora's acceptance. "Hey, Riku didn't… tell you anything else, did he?"_

"_Tell me what?"_

"_Nothing." Tidus' lips pulled into a smile. "Congratulations."_

----

Ever since the incident with Riku's detention and what happened in the bathroom, Sora could no longer think straight again without his thoughts deviating to some extent. It was driving him crazy, and he was scared about what was happening to himself. Kairi had visited Sora's house less often because she had, on several occasions, heard _sounds_ coming from Sora's bathroom. And Sora's grades were seriously beginning to slip.

In other words, Sora couldn't wait to get more of Riku.

But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't run up and confront to Riku about how much he loves Riku. He promised both himself and Riku that he won't say it until it was the right time.

"Pst! Sora! It's 6.67 times 10 to the negative eleventh!"

Sora turned to the whisperer. It was Kairi. "Huh?"

"6.67 times 10 to the negative eleventh! The universal gravitational constant!" Her eye was gazing back and forth between him and the physics teacher at the front of the classroom.

"Well, Sora? Do you have an answer?" The teacher eyed him suspiciously.

The situation finally dawned onto the dumbfounded Sora. "Oh, yeah." He mumbled before reporting the number Kairi whispered to him. The teacher warned him gently about paying attention in class and continued on with his lecture.

When class ended, Kairi gave Sora a good smack on the head.

"What have you been daydreaming about?!" She crossed her arms.

"Ow!" Sora rubbed his head as he recalled his daydream. It was filled with moans and heat and sweat and skin… Sora shuddered. "Nothing."

"That means it must have been something." Kairi noticed the change in Sora's expression. She was promptly reminded of the reason she visited Sora's house less. "Oh… my… goodness… Sora. You can't seriously be…"

"What?" The boy looked at her skeptically. "What? I can't be what?"

Kairi shook her head, blushing.

"No, Kairi! I wasn't thinking of…" Sora began blushing too. "My god! I wasn't thinking about _that_." Sora was always a terrible liar. "That's abhorrent!"

Truth be told, Sora _was_ indeed thinking of doing certain activities with Riku. Except that good, pure little Sora who was the smartest kid in school just couldn't come out to admit it. He was too stubborn and proud to ever admit it.

"Sora, Ms. Gainsborough is looking for you." A girl in his class called from the door. Curiously he left Kairi and his embarrassment to follow the girl.

----

"The United Worlds Science Trivia?" Sora's eyes were wide.

"Yes." Ms. Gainsborough nodded. "I would like to invite you to be the leader of our school's team. I've reviewed your academic history. You're an excellent candidate."

"But I've never been to one before." Sora wasn't so confident.

"I'm sure you will do fine. Our adviser is very experienced and you are such an arduous student." The teacher reassured him with a smile. "Besides, it is a rare opportunity for you to meet people from the worlds outside."

"Okay…" Sora smiled slightly, accepting yet another challenge to his career as a student. The teacher gladly informed him that he will soon meet his teammates. Sora was just a little intimidated about having all the smart kids around him, and directing them as a leader, no less.

----

On Wednesday Sora was kept after school. Ms. Gainsborough called him to her office, claiming that it was time for him to get to know his teammates. Somewhat nervously Sora obliged and descended to the staff room.

He walked in with a heavy heart, and began to scan the people. Immediately he recognized a few students that were perfectly reasonable as candidates for the team. There was a girl, who looked intimidated; a boy who was bright and young; and lastly…

"Riku?!"

The silver-haired boy gave him a half-embarrassed wink, "Hi."

"Oh great, you already know each other." Ms. Gainsborough exclaimed lightly with a clap. "That would make things easier—just by a little bit."

Although Sora uncertainly nodded his head, something in his heart told him that it would not even be close to what Ms. Gainsborough said. Leading a group of intelligent students was one thing; leading Riku was another. He could almost compare his conscience when he was around Riku to a pool of goo; but on top of that—leading him?! It seemed that Sora got more than he bargained for.

----

"Sora, I don't understand this." A girl, whom Sora found to be a fellow contestant, raised her arm and asked, "How come the focal length of the lens will be longer in water? Shouldn't it remain the same?"

"No," Sora explained among the exasperated sighs of the other participants. "Light always passes through a lens. What determines the focal length is the speed of light in different mediums. In water, the speed of light is much slower, so when light hits the lens, it bends less away from the normal, and when it leaves, it bends even less. So the light that comes out is not much bent, and so the focal length is long."

The girl merely stared at him confusedly. As Sora continued to try to explain, the other team members began to murmur among themselves. Some were gossiping about how the girl possibly got into the team, some were moaning about how troublesome she is, some were predicting what negative impacts she would bring to the team. Riku observed between Sora and the impatient people with interest.

"I swear, if Ms. Gainborough doesn't kick her off the team, we'll lose." One of the team members, a girl in Riku's science class, mumbled to her friend.

"Sora, forget it." Riku suddenly stood up and began saying, "She's too stupid. I'll go have Ms. Gainborough take her off the team."

"Riku…?" Sora looked at him skeptically. "What are you saying?"

"She's holding all of us up." He spread his arms out self-righteously. The people behind him nodded and agreed.

"She's just a little behind." The brunet frowned. "I can make sure she'll catch up-"

"Sora." Riku stared into the brunet daringly. "Leave it."

The pout on Sora's face grew bigger until his face bloated up. "No!" He stood up. "We can't just throw her out like this!"

"Sora…" The girl began to plea quietly.

"If you won't kick her out, then we'll just study without you guys." The girl in Riku's science class said loudly.

Sora looked at her, and then at Riku who was at her side, and said, "Fine. We'll study on our own." With that, he grabbed the girl by the wrist and left the room. He was confused, at best, for Riku's bizarre behavior. Suddenly a stroke of fear crossed his heart: he had promised Naminé to change Riku. What had he done so far? Riku hadn't changed from his old snobbish self. At all.

"Sora? You're hurting me." The girl's weak voice pulled Sora back from his mulling.

"Oh, sorry!" The brunet promptly let go of her.

"I'm probably gonna get eliminated this week…" She chuckled bitterly.

"Hm?" Sora raised his brows perplexedly, and then was reminded that she was also in the Love Love Contest. "Oh!"

"Riku probably thinks I'm too stupid for him." She looked away and leaned on the railings of that floor.

"No, of course not!" Sora tried to reassure her. "To be honest, I don't know why he was acting like that either. I thought he was a better person than that."

"You're disappointed in him?" She asked. Sora nodded. She giggled, "It seems like you know much more about him than I do."

"Er… Well…" Sora smiled embarrassedly. "It's never too late to start now."

----

The competition was to be held in Radiant Garden's Civic Auditorium. By then the team had almost split up into two—one Riku's side, with almost everybody in it, and one Sora's side, with only the girl and him. Sora saw Riku at the entrance and his eyes went dark, hating the notion Riku had come to represent.

At first the trivia went fairly well. Albeit Riku's side often sabotaged Sora's voice of opinion, their team was in the leading sector. But the peace only lasted so long until the individual round came. Under the spotlights and the persistent questioning of the judges, the girl fretted and stuttered without being able to give an answer. The girl in Riku's science class scoffed along with the others quietly.

Sora put a hand on the silent girl's shoulder and on her arm, giving her spiritual support. He could not speak to her since that would be considered cheating, but his bright blue eyes poured encouragement. She looked at him, and nodded.

"The diffraction pattern would stretch further apart when the diffraction angle increases." She spoke into the microphone. It was correct and concluded the first session of the competition.

Riku sighed impatiently and left the stage with his group of people. Sora remembered a rude comment from the silver-haired boy about the girl behind his back when the girl was struggling to answer. Angrily he marched up behind Riku.

"Riku!" He called out once he was out in the backstage and grabbed the boy's wrist, "Come here."

"What?" Riku smirked at him, placing a hand over the left side of Sora's nutmeg spikes. The brunet glared up at him, not at all in the mood to comply with Riku's conceited pretense.

"What do you mean she's a 'dumbag'?" Sora questioned.

"Well, it's true." Riku looked away. "Besides, isn't it better? I like smarter people, like you. You shouldn't help her at all, Sora. You'll be helping your opponent."

"Don't you say that agai-"

"Dumbag, dumbag, dumbag…" Riku began to sing-song playfully.

But without a warning, Sora raised an arm and slapped him hard across the face. His face was red with fury and his eyes were wet. "The Riku I knew wasn't like this." He breathed out. "What'd you do to my Riku?!"

The girl who Riku called "dumbag" screamed and rushed to Sora's side, pulling him away from the silver-haired teen. "Sora! What are you doing?!"

Sora remained silent, anger still burning in his eyes. He swung his arm away from the girl and walked away. What Riku didn't see was the heartbrokenness inside the brunet.

----

The elimination day came, and Sora was sure that he would be eliminated. He wanted to be eliminated anyway—with the way Riku changed, the brunet didn't want to continue in this already horrid contest anymore. He was among the first ones to arrive at the photography room. There were, including him, only four contestants left.

"Welcome to the eighth elimination." The fan club president announced. "We are getting closer to the determination of Riku's lover. Let us present a comment from Riku:

"'I understand that my behavior this week was perplexing and irrational. Given this chance I would like to say that it was for the sake of this contest.'" The president folded the paper away. "And now, the first remaining contest is… number 4."

Sora widened his eyes; it was the girl Riku called "dumbag" on earlier.

"And number 8. Both number six and eleven please step up." It was then Sora realized that number six was the girl in Riku's science class and the one that had been harassing number 4. Roxas took over the microphone.

"Another word from Riku." The brunet was sincerely confused right now. "'I wanted to test. I wanted to see if that person had the quality to be my lover in the future. I wanted someone who would stand up to me when I was completely wrong. I needed somebody like that to keep me sane. I know my method was heartbreaking, but I wanted to test.' And that is all he said. Finally, the remaining contestant is… number eleven."

Sora let out a whimper. He searched for those sea-green eyes among the judges and landed onto them, seeing the smirk on Riku's face. At the moment the brunet greatly wanted to slap Riku across the face again—only this time, it's not for anger; but for skeptical joy.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! This story has been completely written and will be awaiting for future uploads!


	10. Chapter Ten: Believe in yourself

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter ten: Believe in yourself**

_Previously…_

"_I wanted to test. I wanted to see if that person had the quality to be my lover in the future. I wanted someone who would stand up to me when I was completely wrong. I needed somebody like that to keep me sane."_

----

Sora hustled in the kitchen, walking back and forth with his hands all busy. His infamous goofy smile was plastered on his face as he stirred the cake mix inside the bowl. Kairi beside him was trying to keep up with his pace but he just seemed unbeatable. Quickly the pan was in the oven and came out golden-colored. With detailed care and delicacy Sora applied icing and frosting on the dessert.

"I bet that's for Riku." Kairi sighed enviously.

"Actually, no." Sora grinned. "It's Tidus' birthday."

"Really?! Why didn't you tell me?" Kairi squealed. "Wait, I'll give him my cake, and then you can give Riku yours!"

Sora protested but Kairi decided on the matter. Upon finalizing the decision someone told them something smelled funny. Kairi turned back and screamed.

"My cake!" She yanked the oven open but it was obviously too late. Her cake looked… _black_.

"Well, I guess we're giving mine to Tidus after all." Sora laughed as his friend glared unhappily at him.

----

Axel had his arms crossed across his chest, shadows were strewn across his refined features. Roxas stood next to him, eyes anxious as they looked at the silver-haired boy before him.

"It's time to sort this all out." Axel said. Riku looked away into the silver clouds. "You _know_ who's winning the contest. There's no point in continuing this."

"I want to finish what I started," said Riku.

"Why bother? You'll get Sora and he'll have to leave you alone anyway." The redhead asked, almost reproaching. "The President told me one of the girls isn't very stable."

"There were several observations made by the club officers." Roxas added. "I have a feeling that if you don't stop this now it'll end more disastrously."

"That's just your gut feeling." Shifting; shadows crossing. "I'll end this the way it is supposed to. The way it started."

And Riku was gone with dissipating footsteps. Axel sighed and lowered his arms. Roxas bit his lower lip and leaned on his boyfriend.

----

The whole class conspired behind Kairi's plot. Tidus was locked out of the classroom, and Sora was to present him the cake. The blond first yelled and kicked at the classroom door, trying to get inside for the school day wasn't over and his stuff was in there. Sora, with a goofy grin, sneaked up beside him, cake in hand.

"Sora!" Tidus exclaimed, "These guys locked us ou-"

Sora giggled, "Happy Birthday Tidus!"

"Happy Birthday!!" The windows of the classroom were shoved open; laughing faces filled the frame.

"You guys!" Realizing what happened, Tidus began to laugh. Sora walked up and gestured the cake to the boy. A candle burned in the center quietly, waiting to be blown out before the shower of congratulated spirits.

----

Riku stopped in the hallway. A streak of light was thrown upon him. The rest of the school seemed unusually dark. His eyes burned into those of the man before him, and followed the smirk that ran on his face.

"You seem to have a hell lot of time to walk around here," said Ansem. "Shouldn't you be putting a watch on that little lover of yours?"

"I'm not a stalker." Riku said.

"Is that so? Well, too bad. You'd miss out on what he's doing with that blond friend of his," Ansem said darkly. "What was his name again…? Oh yes, _Tidus_. Heard he's got a thing for little Sora, too."

"What are you saying?"

"You know what I'm saying," Ansem smiled. "They must be having some real _fun_."

"You're disgusting." Riku said, and walked straight past Ansem. Two junctions down and one turn, however, led him to a noisy corridor.

"Happy Birthday!"

Something struck Riku's heart when he saw the words of Ansem come true. Sora was laughing, giggling, smiling and even _teasing_ next to Tidus. There was a pounding in Riku's chest. Fierce, uncultured. When Tidus leaned closer to blow out the candles, it felt like a rope was smothering around Riku's neck.

----

"It will all be over soon, Riku. You'll be saved from that wicked prick. I will save you… He holds no true heart to you! I… I have a true heart for you. I know… he just wants to take revenge, revenge on someone else. And he is using you. I will not let him do that! I will not allow him to use you. No one can ever hurt you, my precious Riku… There has to be an end to this. She has taken control over you before, and now he is taking her place. I cannot allow anyone to manipulate you any longer. Just wait, my Prince Riku… I'll be there for you. I'll die for you."

----

Sora didn't know how it began, but a feeling of being followed crept up behind his back ever since school ended. Tilting his head musingly he arrived at his locker. However there was a note on there, taped to his locker's door.

"_Meet me at the school's garden."_

The note was not signed. Wondering who it could have been, Sora began to make his way to the school garden. Students were scarce now, most of them heading towards the front gate. Sora took a secluded narrow path to the left and arrived at the garden.

There was something lying on the only bench made of red maple wood in the school. With frowning eyebrows the brunet picked it up, only to tremble in horror when he recognized the picture in his hands.

It was him, sleeping half-naked next to Ansem. He did _not_ remember this picture being taken. He turned it over and it read: _You still haven't told him about us yet?_

The brunet stifled a whimper and crumbled the photo in his hands.

Suddenly his shoulder was tapped.

"Ah!" He exclaimed. He was met with green eyes. "Riku?"

Without a word said boy stepped up to hold Sora in his arms. The pressure applied increased until Sora felt a little crushed and difficult to breathe.

"R-Riku… you're crushing me…"

"What were you doing with him?"

"Him?" Sora froze. Riku couldn't have seen the picture, could he?

"Tidus." Riku said. "What were you doing with him?"

_Tidus..?_ Sora widened his eyes when he remembered. "Oh! It's his birthday today!"

"And nothing else?" Riku pulled away.

"What else can there be?" Sora looked at him confusedly. What was in Riku's eyes? Confusion? No. Distaste? No… Insecurity..?

"I don't know, Sora." Riku said, frowning. "I'm feeling strange these days. It's like I'm not myself anymore. When I see you and Tidus together… When I see you around people…" He sighed, and pulled Sora into him once again. "It's like I just want to hold you, forever, like this."

Something blossomed in Sora's heart. Tears were ringing up his eyes.

"I love you, Sora. I love you." Riku cried. "God, my heart hurts so much."

There was a crack in Sora's voice, and then he sobbed. It was up 'til that point that they both realized love was not something sweet; but something bitter. Love was not something pleasant, but something that made their hearts throb with pain. However romantic that might have been, the tears were with pain.

Their moment was shattered with distinct, crisp claps. The couple pulled away from each other, turning to the man entering the scene.

"How romantic," Ansem said. "Classic."

"What do you want?" Riku narrowed his eyes at the man, naturally becoming protective. Ansem laughed scornfully.

"Why don't you ask your beautiful doll over there?"

"Sora? Do you know him?" Riku turned to his brunet.

Sora didn't say anything.

"Bah, playing silent, are we?" Ansem mocked, and smirked wider when Sora balled up his fist at the photo in his hand. "Very well. If you won't be honest, I'll be."

He pulled out a thin piece of paper from his pocket. Sora's eyes widened in terror and he wanted to snatch the paper from Ansem. However, it would do him no good since Riku would demand to know anyway. The silver-haired boy took the paper from Ansem.

Riku began to shudder. Sora began to weep.

"I've been trying to tell you, Riku," said Ansem. "He joined the contest for other purposes. He wanted get back on me-"

"That's not true…"

"I keep telling you, didn't I? He's just using you…"

"That's not true!" Sora yelled. "Riku, don't trust him. I love you, I really do…"

"Is this picture real?" Riku's voice trembled horribly. Sora squeaked, and nodded silently.

"And you continued in the contest knowing that he was the one I made the bet with?"

Another nod.

"Hah!" Ansem laughed triumphantly. "I told you so! Well, now what, Riku? Even your most prominent candidate is down. You've got no one else to choose but me."

"Shut up." Riku said. He looked numb. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

He turned to leave, and without him Sora collapsed onto the floor. Ansem spat disdainfully before leaving the brunet alone.

----

Somehow the sky had gone gray when Sora was willing to pick himself up. He shuffled slowly away from the garden and back towards the school front. He went back to the lockers, where he left his schoolbag.

When he turned to head home, his eyes spied something. It was… a shoe or something, right behind a row of lockers.

He stalked up to study what it was.

He screamed.

It was number 4, the girl from the science competition, lying on the ground.

In blood.


	11. Chapter 11: Watch it go down the drain

**Love Love Contest! Fight!**

Disclaimer: Don't own KH characters or rights.

Warning: shonen-ai (boy x boy romance), crude humor, language, SoraRiku below.

* * *

**Chapter eleven: Watch it go down the drain**

_Previously…_

_It was number 4, the girl from the science competition, lying on the ground._

_In blood._

----

Amidst the blaring sirens a sniff could be heard. Kairi and Sora's mother stood outside the police station, worried. Sora's mother squeezed her hands anxiously, while Kairi wandered around the entrance, glancing inside from time to time.

It was a whole half an hour later that a policeman, holding Sora by the arm, approached the entrance. Kairi and Sora's mother rushed immediately to the boy, whose eyes were red and puffed.

"We will inform you if we need further cooperation in this investigation." The officer said. "For now, stay in town."

Sora staggered over to his mother. That horrid picture replayed itself relentlessly in his mind. He had a feeling that there was an underlying connection between it all: the contest, the contestants, and the murder. He wondered about Riku, where he is and what he is doing now. And above all else, whether he is safe or not.

----

Roxas closed the door behind him quietly, shaking his head to Axel. Immediately the redhead understood that Riku wasn't talking. Roxas took Axel's hand. Their school is closed down due to the murder, but Roxas was only happy that Axel was alive, standing before him. He reached for an embrace with his boyfriend, gladly inhaling Axel's smell.

Riku listened as footsteps diminished outside his room. His eyes slipped behind the lids, but all he could see was Sora. Sora's tears, Sora's pain, Sora's frown, Sora's smile, and his white skin. Then the horrified notion came in the back of his mind: what was Sora doing there when he discovered the girl? Why didn't Sora tell Riku that he knew Ansem? What was his purpose behind all this?

And suddenly the room became a whirlpool, almost swallowing Riku up. He felt dizzy. There were too many questions for him to handle at once. Now he wished he hadn't brought this upon himself.

----

It's been days.

Sora's been staying at home for days. The school had reopened but Sora didn't want to go to school. He was scared of it. There'd be too many things he would have to face if he went back there.

His mother knocked on his door, "Sora?"

He didn't budge.

"Sweetheart, you've got to stop this." She said behind the door. Her voice sounded muffled from Sora's side. "I'm coming in."

Her son laid on the bed, just staring into the ceiling. She sighed and sat beside him, "Sora."

"Mom," Sora said, "Why do these things happen?"

She found herself silent. The answer was indefinite.

"I don't know," that was all she could say, "They just do."

A wrenching feeling came up to Sora's nose and he saw blur. His mother patted his head gently. And then Sora was breathing again.

----

The next day Sora was finally at school. He didn't expect the stares, but they were there. And, he didn't know if this should be considered luck, he passed by the halls most of the day without ever bumping into or seeing Riku.

But even that was gone at the end of the day. They were walking in opposite directions from each end of the hall. Sora didn't dare to look up at Riku's eyes, so he focused on the ground as he tried to walk by.

"Thanks…" Riku's voice startled and stopped him. "For staying alive."

Sora turned back with wide eyes, but Riku continued down the corridor silently. It was then that Sora realized how one sentence could break him into tears.

----

Traces of summer were leaving and autumn settled in. It solemnized the already heavy mood befalling upon Sora. Kairi walked beside him with goose bumps starting to grow all over her skin.

"Okay, this is too awkward," she declared, stopping her pace. "What's the problem here?"

"What problem?" Sora asked.

"The problem between you and Riku." She said. "I swear, we can't just let it die like this. Not after all those times I've helped you in the contest."

Sora looked away, a little flushed. "The contest's over. They canceled it. They can't continue after what happened."

"They can cancel a contest," Kairi said, "But they can't cancel love."

Sora blushed harder. He laughed sheepishly, to dismiss what she said, and walked faster. She tugged at his arm and yanked him around. She knew him too well to ignore his hardheaded personality, and she feels too bad right now for dragging him into all this. Sora sniffed and wiped across his eyes.

And then they widened in shock.

"Kai-!"

----

Riku's ears indulged in the music pouring from his headphones as he flipped through the pages of his textbook. He missed the soft knock his mother placed on the door, but she came in anyway.

"Riku," She said with a phone in her hand, "it's for you."

The boy looked over and reached for the phone, thanking his mother.

"Hello?"

"Riku…" It was a girl's voice. It sounded familiar but Riku couldn't remember where he heard it. "How are you doing, Riku?"

"Uh… Who's this?"

"I'm number 8 from the competition." The girl said.

"Oh, hi." Riku said awkwardly. "Not that I mind you calling, but I want to make sure that you know the competition is canceled."

"I know." She said, "What happened was horrible. But I'm just wondering, what will you do now? Weren't you looking for a special someone? Did you just decide to drop all this?"

"Uh, well." Riku laughed sheepishly. "I guess I just have to go with the flow and look for other ways."

"Well… if you don't mind, will… will you go on a date with me?"

Riku hesitated. His eyes skimmed a picture of him and Sora dancing in the ball that night on the island, taken by a professional photographer hired to document the contest. The questions were still left unanswered.

"Uh… I'm sorry. I really am not in the mood for this at all." Riku sighed. "Terrible things have been happening, and I think we all just need to cool down until things get sort out by the police. I don't want you to get hurt, either."

"O-Oh, i-is that so?" The girl stuttered. "W-Well, that's alright. I… I'll wait for you."

----

Sora woke up from dizziness. He couldn't recognize where he was anymore. It certainly wasn't the roadway he and Kairi were walking home on.

_Kairi!_

He remember what he saw last before passing out. Yes, he saw a baseball bat swinging right onto the back of Kairi's head. Then it was that girl… from the contest. And she tried to hit him too, but his arms took the blow. And then he fell on the ground and a damp white towel was muffed over his face…

He could still feel the burning bruise on his arms where the bat had hit. He looked around and found Kairi lying on the ground next to him, unconscious. He would've moved to check her breathing if he wasn't chained. He stared hard, trying to remain still. It seemed that her chest was rising up and down extremely slowly. Good, she's still brea-

_Ah!_

Shearing pain ripped through Sora's torso as something sharp intruded. His gaze moved from Kairi to the girl before him, then down to the knife that penetrated the right hand side of his body a second ago. Fresh blood was trickling in tiny amounts from the wound.

"You evil witch…" She breathed. "Dispel the curse you placed on Riku, now!"

"W-What are you talking about…?" Sora heaved. Her hand grabbed his face.

"Riku won't go on a date with me. It's all because of you… You cast a spell on him, didn't you?!"

"What the hell…" Sora gulped for air. "I don't…"

"Don't play fool with me!" She screamed and threw his head back towards the fence he was chained to. "You think I'm stupid, huh? You think I'm dumb? Well I'm NOT! You are going to help me get Riku to agree to the date. How does it feel to have to give someone you greed for so much up to someone else, huh?"

Sora almost whimpered. What has this girl become?

----

Riku came home tired from sports practice. He threw his bag over at the table and sat down despite the sheen layer of sweat on his skin. His mother came from the kitchen and placed down a plate of sliced pears in front of him.

"Did you hear? Mrs. Hearts's son went missing." She said nonchalantly, part of her daily gossip routine. "it's just so horrible. Wasn't he your friend who came over last time with another girl? I heard that girl's missing, too."

She turned back and all she saw was Riku looking stupefied.

Suddenly the phone rang.

"Hello?" She went to get it. "Oh yes, he's right here. Let me put you through." She handed him the phone, "Honey, it's for you."

"Mom, were you talking about Sora?" He ignored the call.

"Who? Oh, I don't know, sweetheart. Was that his name? I'm so sorry." She placed a hand on his cheek. "It's a terrible thing, I know." And then she left.

Without knowing what to do, Riku could only put the phone on his ear.

"Hello?"

"Riku?"

"Sora?!" He yelled, "Where are you?! My mom said that you…"

"I-I-I'm fine." The boy said weakly. "I-I just wanted to call you, to say goodbye to you." The sound was raspy. "I've done a horrible thing. When I… ah… when I joined the competition, I really was trying to get back at Ansem. I hated him for what he did to me and I just didn't think about anything else. I never thought I would actually fall for you. But I did. You remember that time when I decided to stay in the competition, and you asked me why but I said I'll tell you why later? Well, I stayed because I love you. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you and I don't expect you'll ever forgive me. I'm not worth your time. You should go find someone else. Like that last girl in the contest… number 8. You deserve someone like her, who can devote all her life for you, ow… Bye, Riku."

"Sora?! Sora!"

----

She snapped the phone shut. She lips grew into a smirk, "See? I'm right. You're one wicked little slut. You don't deserve Riku. _I_ do! Even you admit that now, ha! Riku only thought he likes you because of all your flirty and filthy tricks. You should've just fallen along with Ansem! You and him make such a great couple! The "disgusting couple", that is! Whores like you will only taint Riku's purity."

Beads of tears were falling down Sora's cheeks. To some extent, she was right.

But that doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore. Sora was dying and everything would end. He was starting to see blur. He knew this was a sign of heavy blood loss.

----

Riku rang the doorbell furiously. Number 8 has got to be in there.

She opened the door and smiled warmly. "R-Riku… what…?"

"Hi…" He smiled. "You don't happen to know where Sora is, right?"

Her smiled disappeared. Her face twitched. "N-No, of course not. Why would I?"

"Right…" He didn't want to agitate her. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, of course."

He grabbed her hand gently, and pulled her close to him.

"I wanna date you." He said softly, his eyes smiling. She blushed.

"R-Really?"

"Yes. I've even prepared a dinner for us tonight." He was a good liar. "Why don't you go get changed?"

"Right now?"

"Yes, beautiful." He kissed the back of her hand, "Take all the time you need." She nodded and squealed, running to her bedroom.

Making sure she had locked her door, Riku sneaked around stealthily.

"Sora? Sora, where are you?" He knew it was a little pointless to whisper around, but he was hoping. He turned a corner and saw the storage door open.

He went inside. There was a trapdoor. It led down to the basement.

----

Kairi thanked goodness that she had paid attention in the first aid unit when she trained to be a lifeguard. Her hands were all covered with Sora's blood as they applied pressure on the torn pieces of clothes she placed around the knife wound. But she was scared. If Sora didn't get real medical help anytime soon he would really die.

"Kairi…" Sora moaned quietly. "Am I going to die…?"

"Don't you ever say that!" She sobbed. "You can't just leave me like this, you can't leave your mom like this!"

"If I do…" He groaned with pain. "Can you do one thing for me…?"

"Anything…" She cried. "And stop saying this! You sound like you really will die!"

"Tell Riku I'm sorry…"

Kairi couldn't say anything. Even near his death, Sora was only thinking of Riku. She can't imagine why Riku would ever be mad at Sora.

Suddenly there were footsteps from afar. Kairi whimpered with fright, and prayed that it's not the girl who kidnapped them.

Someone turned around the corner. He had silver hair.

"Riku!" Kairi cried.

"Shhh!" Riku shushed as he ran to Sora's side. "I'm going to get you out. But I need you to help me."

Kairi could only nod. She wondered if she was dreaming. Or worse, maybe she is dead and her soul is imagining all this.

"I've got that girl into her bedroom changing and preparing herself for a date. I don't think she'll be out anytime soon but be careful, and hold Sora." They hoisted the boy up together, and worked towards the stairs.

----

It's been 2 years since that happened. Kairi brought me out of the house and screamed for somebody to help. I was completely unconscious. The knife was still in me until the ambulance came. Riku cleaned up the blood because he wanted to pretend nothing happened, so that he could bring the girl to the police station without her suspicion. She climbed into his car happily, thinking of a night in a classy restaurant and romance. He told her to sleep, that he'd wake her up when they get there. And she woke up in front of the police station, hands cuffed.

I took a total of three months to recover. A total of forty-five stitches, in organ and outside. Kairi, Tidus and Mom were there for me all the time, but Riku only came to see me once.

One week after he turned the girl in, the school questioned him. He told them everything. From the bet he made with Ansem, to the beginning of the contest, to the end, everything. They expelled him for holding the contest, which triggered all these. They expelled him way before I was able to walk again.

The girl, number 8 in the contest, turns out to also be the one who killed number 4. She thought number 4 was bigger threat then, because of the ordeal during the science competition.

I'm in college now. A freshman juggling with six classes. My life is normal again, I guess. Ansem couldn't find me anymore once I graduated from high school and moved out. Kairi got into the same college, and Tidus is off to another. I've never seen Riku after that one time he came to visit me in the hospital. And back then I was too confused, my heart too complicated, to face him. I wish I had talked to him properly, or at least gotten some contact information, instead of turning my face away from him and asking him to leave.

_BAM!_

"Sora! Were you listening to me?!"

"Huh? Listen what?"

"Urgh!" Kairi rolled her eyes, sitting her bottom into the chair at the dining hall. "What is _wrong_ with you? You're spacing out again!" She whined with a frown, "Are you thinking about… _him_ again?"

I laughed bitterly. "Well, I can't help it. He was the only one I loved that much, after all."

"Really, so you'll never find someone else?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." Then I laughed, "Maybe we'll bump into each other one day again, who knows?"

She made an unsatisfied sound, but then she saw the clock on the wall. "Shit, I gotta go! See ya!"

"Bye." I said with a smile as I watched her run away.

"Mind if I join you?" Somebody from my right asked. I turned and said, "Of course-

not.

And then there was his finger, on my chin. And then there were his face, his aquamarine eyes, and his smirk, over my face. And then there were his lips, over mine.

* * *

_A/N: This is the final chapter!! Thank you for all your reviews and support! They are what keeps me writing these stories and I hope you have gotten something out of this series. The next fanfic to be uploaded should be __My Boyfriend is a Pop Star, _but I am having issues with the comic part of it so you'll have to wait. I'm sorry!


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